If Things Went Differently
by TheWaffleKid
Summary: Starting from the beginning, the boys invent a time machine to become "heroes to the uncool." As the gang-Virgil, Charlie, Zeke, Jeanette and Jay-become closer, both friendship and romantic relationships will grow, the girls will become official Minutemen (Uh...girls), and they'll come to face to troublesome situations.
1. Chapter 1

Well, the first mission was a complete FAIL. After Virgil Fox and his friends finished building their time machine, they had used it for the one thing that Virgil REALLY wanted. He only had two words in his mind when they jumped through the vortex of their machine: the lottery. Everything was running smoothly up until the cashier asked them for ID to prove they were 18 years old.

Virgil smiled because out of the three boys, he was the only one who was 18. When he checked his pockets however, he really wanted to kick himself for FORGETTING HIS WALLET back in his own time period. He wanted to leave the ticket with the Robot Man in front of the convenient store, but Zeke Thompson, one of the three, stopped him on account of "not trusting the guy." All in all, the complete waste of the trip disappointed Virgil. If only he left the ticket with the Robot Man…

The regret was eating at him and instead of mourning about it, he was brainstorming a few backup plans while his best friend, Charlie Tuttle, untied his shoes in the boys' locker room after gym class. It was only when he suggested to have other people down in the basement when Charlie cut him off.

"Forget it Virgil!" he said sharply. "If anyone finds out about the machine it will be the end of you, me and Zeke. The end!"

"Uh…" Virgil had turned his head to keep his nose from touching Charlie's, who had stood on the bench and leaned in towards Virgil to emphasize the point he was trying to make. "Can you back up? I've got personal space issues."

Charlie was stubborn at times, but so was Virgil. Even as they left the locker room, he was still trying to find a way to get his hands on that lottery money.

"Listen," Charlie said as they climbed up the stairs to the main level, "forget about cheating your way into getting that money. We should use the machine to do GOOD, USEFUL things."

"Like what? That 48-hour limit doesn't give us many options you know."

"You'd be surprised, Virg."

A loud commotion further behind made them turn around. They saw an acquaintance, Chester, wrapped in a towel, pleading with a group of punk kids to return his stolen clothes. A kid snuck up behind him and snatched the towel away, exposing poor Chester to the entire student population. Virgil felt a knot form in his throat as everyone roared in laughter. He felt bad for the kid, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"I got it!" Charlie beamed, smacking Virgil's arm excitedly. The two locked eyes, transmitting their thoughts to one another.

The knot disappeared and Virgil felt a smile of his own grow on his face. "We use the time machine to…"

"Exactly!"

The two did Virgil's special handshake, but Charlie didn't finish correctly.

"Scratch!" he yelled.

Virgil looked at him in disbelief and began to walk away to look for Zeke. "It's 'Scorch'. Did you even read the instructions I emailed you?"

…

The boys were preparing to jump through again when Charlie groaned in frustration. "None of these remotes are going to work! One of us needs to stay behind to ensure nothing happens while we're on the other side."

Since no one wanted to miss out on the fun, no one volunteered and the room became dead silent. Virgil knew there was only one way to solve the dilemma.

"Not it!" he suddenly shouted.

"Not it!" Zeke said quickly.

"Not it!" Charlie caught on slowly. "Daaah! That wasn't fair!"

"Not it!" Virgil shouted again.

"Not it!"

"Not—Oh, come on! I invented the thing!" Charlie argued.

Virgil and Zeke smiled in amusement at his distress and glanced at each other. Messing around with the short teen was fun.

"Not it!" a female said, making the three boys whip their gaze to the door.

Cheerful Jeanette Pachelewski stood at the entrance with a girl who unlike Jeanette, gave off a more mature vibe with her posture and calm, almost blank, expression on her face. Being the 'people person' he was, Virgil was the only one who recognized her.

The girl's name was Jade Quelin (although she preferred Jay) and she was a senior who moved to Summerton High School during his sophomore year. He shared a class with her once and after they got different schedules, she pretty much disappeared. Now he occasionally saw her in the hallways, but that was it since she was a person who could become invisible to the crowd. Being present in the basement was an unpredictable move.

And a miraculous one.

Realizing that the girls were an answer to their problem, Virgil glanced at Zeke and Charlie. While Charlie seemed a little scared that JEANETTE was standing in the same room as him, Zeke's blue eyes flashed apprehensively.

The two looked at the girls with a friendly smile and Virgil addressed them both. "Hey Jeanette. Hey Jay."

Jay looked stunned for a brief second, but the expression was quickly replaced by a grin. "Hi Virgil."

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked Jeanette. By his tone, Virgil knew he was ultimately looking to get rid of them.

"We were just looking for a club to join and we saw yours the 'Back to the Future Fan Club'," Jeanette explained, holding up a paper. "And personally, I love that movie. I just find the concept of time travel very…science-fictiony?"

Jay frowned slightly at the use of the word. "Uh…"

"Excuse us for just one second." Virgil held up a finger and waved Charlie over. The boys huddled up. Zeke and Virgil tried to convince Charlie that letting the girls in on the 'secret' was convenient, but Charlie refused to listen to them. They argued in whispers and slowly got louder.

Jay shifted uncomfortably and shared a confused glance with Jeanette.

The boys' arguing got up to the point where Charlie screamed "No!" and got into a smacking contest with Virgil.

"Hey, no hitting!" Zeke broke them up.

"Uh, would you like us to go?" Jay asked uneasily.

"No!" Zeke and Virgil said, confusing her even more.

Virgil cleared his throat. "We need a favor."

…

"Do you understand?" Charlie's tone carried a hint of annoyance as he finished explaining how to work the machine.

"Sure bluebird," Jeanette answered. "But first…" she turned off the machine and gave the boys disapproving looks. "We so gotta do something about those outfits."

Confused, the boys looked down at their clothes.

"I think they look fine." Jay shrugged a shoulder, earning her the same disapproving glance.

**-XY-**

**So I just saw the movie and freaking LOVED IT. (I can't believe I'e never seen it in my childhood.) Anyway here I am, writing about it years after it was 'the thing'. C:**


	2. Chapter 2

"Yesterday," the vice principal was announcing the next day, "a group of students were involved in a bullying fiasco during third period. They stepped up to help a fellow peer in need, but while I appreciate what these students did, I remind them that it is not their responsibility to handle situations such as that…That is all."

…

At a certain time late in the afternoon, the tall teen found himself craving a cheeseburger with fries so he went to The Burger Hour, a hot spot for teens to hang out and get food. He sat alone at a table near the back when further up near the front, he saw an employee who was one of Virgil and Charlie's acquaintances slip and fall. Unfortunately for him, the tray of food that he was carrying flew up in the air and spilled on him. Everyone laughed and jeered at him, but as terrified as the kid seemed, no one stepped in to help him.

Disgusted with the display Zeke left, glancing at the clock on one of the walls.

…

At a certain time late in the afternoon, the table near the back stayed empty as Eugene took an order to a group of cute girls. His heart stopped when he slipped on the wet floor, but to his surprise he found himself in the arms of one of the Snowsuit Guys. However, that wasn't all. Eugene had accidentally pulled on the handle of a dirty mop and sent the wet top flying toward the table of the girls, spraying them with dirty water.

Everybody laughed while Eugene heaved a relieved sigh.

"Thanks Snowsuit Guys!" he beamed at the trio. The tallest one acknowledged him with a quick nod before following the other two out.

…

Jay was leaning on one of the pillars with her homework on her lap and Jeanette was at the computer when the boys jumped back. Virgil and Zeke landed on the mattresses they laid out in their corner, but Charlie crashed into the pile of cardboard boxes. Pulling out a bud, Jay tried to hide her grin while she went to help him up.

"Are you okay?" she hauled him to his feet.

He stumbled before regaining his balance; his expression was that of a dizzy drunk. "Yeah. Thanks."

Jeanette turned off the vortex and jumped out of the seat. "Was it a success?" she asked enthusiastically.

Virgil smiled and glanced at his two partners. "Yeah."

Smirking, Zeke found himself craving another cheeseburger. He took off his snowsuit and put it in one of the boxes along with his grappling hook. He slipped his leather jacket on and was about to leave when Virgil spoke to him.

"Hey, want to go to The Burger Hour to celebrate? I think it would be quite suiting."

The unexpected request was a strange coincidence and it took Zeke by surprise. Not knowing what to say, he simply shrugged a shoulder.

It wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no either. "All right then. Let's go," Virgil said.

Jay twirled a finger. "All of us?"

"Yeah," Virgil confirmed.

Zeke suppressed the urge to groan. Going with Virgil and Charlie was bearable, but going with a hyper Jeanette and a girl he barely knew? Less bearable.

…

Virgil took Charlie, Jeanette and Jay in his car while Zeke met up with them at The Burger Hour in his motorcycle. As he walked in with the group, he regretted accepting the request because he had never gone out to do anything WITH people, he just…went by himself. Perhaps being such a recluse was intimidating consider that they WEREN'T EVEN TALKING TO HIM.

He didn't belong with them, what was he-?

"What do you want?" Virgil smacked his arm lightly. "It's on me."

What was he, a charity case? Zeke's face was forming its usual scowl when he stopped himself. Virgil wasn't even doing anything to him, he was just offering to buy him food. HE WAS GETTING FREE FOOD. Zeke shrugged. "Just a burger and fries."

Virgil turned to the others. "What about you-?"

"Let's just go up to order what we want," Jay interrupted. "It'll be easier than you having to remember everything."

"All right."

Up at the counter, each person told the black haired kid—whose name was Eugene, Zeke learned—what they wanted. Jay gave him a friendly smile before she started and Zeke caught him buckling under it. Eugene's nervous chuckle made the tall teen roll his eyes. Jay was just another customer, it's not like she was some health inspector or something. The group finished and went to choose a table. Zeke sat directly in front of the girl, sparking his irritation at the vibes he was getting from her. By the way she was avoiding his gaze and straight up IGNORING his presence, it was obvious she wasn't quite fond of him.

He was positive he hadn't done anything to her, so this little 'silent treatment' was her problem, not his. He openly glared at her, but since she wasn't looking at him she didn't notice and she kept smiling as she spoke to the others. There was a point where a wide smile showed off two dull peaks that made it look like she had vampire teeth.

Hmm, vampire teeth and dark clothing? She may as well been an actual vampire, Zeke thought to himself and snorted softly.

He stared at her teeth until his irritation quickly turned to curiosity.

Her eyebrows weren't curved, they were a strong shape that settled boldly over her eyes, which kind of…squinted?...when she smiled. Aside from that, her smile emphasized the shape of her round face all in all, making her easy on the eyes.

Eugene called out the number of their order and Jay flashed him the friendly smile, making him respond with a nervous wave hello. Zeke frowned. What the heck was that kid's problem?

Since it was a two-person job, Jay and Virgil stood up to retrieve it. Charlie's eyes went wide at the thought of being left with Jeanette without Virgil and he snagged his friend's arm.

"Don't go."

Virgil frowned at him in confusion. "What? Why?"

"Because." Charlie's eyes bored through Virgil's skull, sending him a mental message.

Still standing, Jay tapped on Jeanette's arm when she saw Charlie's look. "It's fine. Jeanette and I'll go get it."

Smiling, Jeanette jumped up from the table. "Okay."

While Virgil and Charlie held their not-so-quiet conversation, Zeke continued to study Jay. She was most definitely NOT a tomboy. Her dark clothing hugged her good form comfortably and it seemed that she had the good senses to stay with the most neutral style there was. She wasn't nerdy and hopeless, but she wasn't promiscuous and eye-catching either. She was just….in the middle, much like Zeke.

When she turned to face the table with Jeanette she caught Zeke looking at her, making him jolt. He tried to make it look like he was just casually glancing at them, but his face grew hot in embarrassment as she and Jeanette took their seats again. While everyone grabbed their food, he took a risk and glanced at her. She was acting normally, not noticing the weird 'staring'.

Zeke mentally sighed in relief and became distracted with his cheeseburger. Girls were about as appealing as a housefly compared to good food, he told himself.


	3. Chapter 3

One of the main things that attracted Jay to boys was the one thing Eugene lacked: confidence, smart and humble, letting off these vibes that attracted Jay like moths are drawn to the moon. These were the vibes she picked up when she first saw Zeke Thompson.

He was confident enough to go off on his own and always do things by himself AND he was also smart. So smart in fact, that without him Charlie and Virgil wouldn't have been able to build the time machine. Jay could tell he was a capable loner who was able to be his own person regardless of what the standards were and THAT'S how Jay knew she was attracted to the kid. And because of that attraction, THAT'S why she avoided him.

Jay knew that the way she handled her crushes was weird, but it was the only thing she just naturally did: she avoided people she liked, especially boys. It's the reason why she hadn't officially made any friends since she'd move to Summerton. The few people that caught her attention did just that….catch her attention.

Sometimes, she was still amazed that she was able to start talking to Jeanette Pachelewski, leading up to this normal (actually not so normal)-teenage-social-life thing. It was hard fighting her natural urge to avoid them, especially with Zeke in the mix, yet the next day she avoided going into the library and she went to the cafeteria instead.

The experience was alien, standing in a line was strange, and actually seeing FOOD during LUNCH TIME? It was…unreal, but Jay took it one step at a time. She spotted Zeke amongst the hordes of people and immediately became tense.

The teenage girl inside her just wanted to stare at him in amazement and unfortunately for her, that's exactly what she allowed herself to do up until he casually TURNED and SAW HER STARING. She jolted and immediately averted his gaze.

Crap, oh crap!

She snatched the closest tray of food available and hurried to the table where Virgil was already sitting.

"You don't mind if I sit here do you?" she sat down and asked without making eye contact.

"Yeah, no problem."

She began to relax. "Where's Charlie?"

Virgil shrugged. "I don't know. He's probably washing his hands or something."

"Oh." And then came another difficult task; keeping up a conversation. Since Jay was severely unexperienced she furiously racked her brain for appropriate ways to continue talking, but she stopped her chaotic thoughts and exhaled; she was just going to have to be blunt. "I'm sorry if I get awkward to be around. I haven't really had any people to talk to since I moved here."

Stunned, Virgil's eyes widened. "You haven't made a single friend since sophomore year?"

Jay shrugged a shoulder. "Not really. I've just…been doing my own thing."

"Well, welcome to the table of the dorks," Virgil held his arms open. "Quick warning, if you want a social life, you might want to think about leaving now."

Smiling, Jay took a bite of her pear. "I'm not in the position to get picky with friends, but thanks."

From there, Virgil and Jay kept talking until Charlie joined the table and finally Zeke. He let his tray slam on the surface, making her jump, and he sat one chair away from her. The nervous spasms were kicking up again and she concentrated hard to keep them on the down low.

"Do you have a problem with me?" he suddenly asked after a while.

It took her a few seconds to realize he was talking to her and when she made eye contact, she stopped herself from gasping. He was even more breath-taking than she imagined. The color of his eyes reminded her of steel and they were glaring at her expectantly. Virgil and Charlie were too stunned to say anything; they simply stared at the unfolding drama.

"Uh—You're just—I try not to—"

What? Look at you because I'm infatuated?

Jay was becoming way too flustered and she could feel heat rising up into her cheeks. She didn't like the way her heart was beating as if she'd been running a marathon and she hated how she was stuttering for an answer.

Just tell him the truth.

She exhaled and looked at him squarely in those steel blue eyes. "Trust me. I don't have a problem with you. It's on me."

By the way his eyes sparked in curiosity, Jay knew he wasn't expecting her answer. She looked at the food on her tray. "I apologize."

"Hmm," he simply said.

…

During lunch a few days later, Jay was the only one at the usual table scribbling across pages of what Zeke assumed was homework. He frowned slightly as his mind clicked and he realized that Jay was ALWAYS doing homework. For the first time, he spontaneously decided to take a seat next to her.

"What is it that you're always working on?" he sat down and scanned the scrambled papers.

"Homework," she answered simply with a quick glance. "I never seem to have time to just relax."

"How is that possible? You're a senior aren't you?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter." She began gathering her things.

"I'll stop talking if it helps," Zeke offered.

She waved a hand carelessly. "Nah its fine. I haven't been able to concentrate anyway."

Crossing her arms, she leaned back in her chair once she zipped up her backpack and set it on the floor beside her. Zeke's eyes fell on the square charm at the base of her neck. The V-neck shirt she was wearing exposed her chest and all that skin sent shivers down his spine.

He immediately looked away and ignored them; he was NOT going to act like some cliché high school boy. "Do you have honors or something?"

Jay shrugged a shoulder. "No, just AP and concurrent which can get really frustrating because of all the work."

"Why not take regular classes?"

Jay opened her mouth to respond but frowned. "…I don't know. I guess I just like being an overachiever."

"Like Charlie?" Zeke asked with a smirk.

She gave him a small grin. "No. He's the overachiever of overachievers." And while Zeke snorted she said, "I don't think I'll be able to compete against THAT. You're the only one that ever seems to understand what he's saying."

"Only half of the time, surprisingly," Zeke corrected her.

She chuckled. "Naw man, I think he's pretty cool. Virgil too. I'm glad they're my friends."

Failing to mention Zeke, her eyes widened when he frowned slightly at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"Its fine," Zeke said more harshly than he intended. It had hurt just a little that out of all three, she forgot him and the fact that he cared angered him. His old thoughts began to cloud his mind, putting him down, questioning why he ever thought that he would truly belong with Virgil and the rest. He WAS always better off on—

"I think you're cool too," Jay broke his train of thoughts, looking sincerely into his eyes. "You actually remind me a lot of my dad and that's incredible because he's the best person I know. Everyone else is plain and clear, but you're different. You stand out."

He just stared at her because the unexpected rant left him completely speechless. She blinked quickly and looked away in embarrassment, rubbing her neck. "Uh…"

"Are you close to him?" Zeke randomly blurted, trying to recover from the initial shock of being…complimented?

Smiling in relief and shyness, Jay gave Zeke an idea about who he was, seeming anxious by her added use of hand gestures. When Virgil and Charlie joined the table, she excused herself and disappeared.


	4. Chapter 4

Days later Virgil glanced over at the popular table again, yearning to be seated next to his old friend (and current crush) Stephanie.

"It's interesting." Jay stared at him, her chin propped up with her palm.

Virgil broke out of his regret-ridden trance. "What is?"

"You're always looking at them, but you look like you're more curious than afraid," she explained. "Everyone else just…looks at them in fear."

Virgil thought about her statement. Due to "The Incident" back when he was a freshman, Virgil was marked. He was sometimes the victim of name calling, he would sometimes be the subject of impolite conversations or references—lately, he's just been ignored—but he's never experienced any luck with the populars. That didn't mean he was afraid in their presence, he simply felt regret.

"He only looks over there because of Stephanie," Charlie said.

"Who's that?"

"She's a cheerleader who so happened to be one of Virgil's friends back when they were in middle school."

Jay's eyebrows shot up. "Really? What happened?"

Virgil groaned; he knew where this conversation was headed.

"The Incident," Zeke said.

"The—? Oh," Jay nodded apprehensively. "The yearbook."

Virgil sighed in frustration and rubbed his cheek as a sign of irritation. "What happened was—"

"No it's okay," she cut him off. "I don't want to know the details."

"It's going to come up again sooner or later," Virgil sighed heavily, "you may as well know now."

He told her what happened on the first day of freshman year—the football practice, Charlie and the rocket cart, standing up for Charlie when the football players picked on him, the statue—and when he finished, he glanced at Stephanie again. "…All the time I just wonder what my life would be like if it DIDN'T happen."

"Yeah but you're mainly just staring at her because you like her," Charlie said, earning him a sarcastic glare.

"Wow, way to keep a secret Charlie."

Grinning Jay held up her hands. "Hey we're all seniors here. I didn't hear a thing. But try not to live in the past Virgil, I say you should keep moving forward. Look at what you've accomplished so far, you didn't and don't need to be popular to live your life."

Virgil simply smiled in response, agreeing to disagree in silence. He may not have needed popularity, but he certainly wanted it.

…

When the guys came back from getting a boy out of the vending machine, Jeanette wasn't there waiting in the computer, FOR ONCE. Jay was sitting in her place with a math book in her lap. She closed it, pulled out a bud and turned off the vortex.

"Where's Jeanette?" Virgil slid off the hood of his snow suit.

"I don't know," Jay opened her book again to do her work. "She told me she was just going to do something with a friend."

"Hm, interesting," Virgil said jokingly.

Zeke circled around the machine towards Jay as he pulled of his gloves. "What is it this time?"

"Math. When I can do it, I love it. But when it's like this, look…" she lifted the book "I hate it."

Zeke frowned slightly, looking the work over. "Trigonometry?"

"The worst. Subject. Ever." Jay brought the book back to her lap and rubbed her eyes. "I never learned Trigonometry so I don't get it no matter how hard I study it. Do you?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think you can help me with it?"

Zeke shrugged a shoulder. "Sure."

"Normally I'd say, 'Let's eat out,' but we've been doing that a lot lately AND I've got a few things to take care of at home," Virgil said, calling the pair's attention. "So we're going to have to wait until tomorrow."

"Okay," Jay agreed, "it'd feel weird without Jeanette anyway."

"Yeah," Virgil agreed and turned to face Charlie, who had run up to say something about his cat, Albert Felinestein.

Jay stood up and stuffed her book in her backpack. "I think I'll go and try to figure this out so I can ask you about it tomorrow."

"I could help you now if you want," Zeke offered with a careless shrug.

"Nah its fine, I wouldn't want to interrupt anything."

"I've got nothing to do, so if you want..." he trailed off, letting her know the offer was still available.

She took a few seconds to consider it, but shook her head. "Tomorrow, during lunch."

…

Zeke was usually the second one to the lunch table since Jay was the first so when he entered the cafeteria, he expected to see her in her spot with an open math book. When he saw that he was the first this time, he scanned the cafeteria as he sat down, feeling a little weirded out. It took her about a minute to show up.

"Had to go get my book," she said in an apology. As soon as she took her seat, she whipped out her homework and had Zeke help her with the problems she circled. Her eyes never left the page while he explained the properties of each problem. She took up her pencil when he finished and began working through her assignment.

"Make sure I'm doing this right, okay?" she said without looking at him.

"You're doing fine."

The two fell to silence and random little comments about multiplying and addition, but as much as Zeke wanted to start up an actual conversation to avoid the awkwardness, he didn't want to distract Jay.

After three more problems she leaned back in her chair and smiled, keeping her eyes on the paper. Making a comment about how she was getting the hang of it, she leaned forward again and continued to work.

"So how is it that you never learned Trig?" Zeke asked in an effort to break the silence.

"It just…never came up," she shrugged. Zeke thought she was going to close with that, but she continued. "I think you're lucky to have learned this crap, all I got around was the basics—Statistics, Probability, Geometry, although I prefer Algebra. How about you, which do you prefer?"

"Uh….Nothing really," Zeke said. "It's all the same to me."

"You don't like Math?"

"Yes, but I'm more into mechanics."

"Just motorcycle mechanics? No cars?"

"Yeah."

"Interesting. How is it that you became interested in bikes?"

Zeke told her about the Thompson's Cycle Cemetery and how his dad taught him how to work on bikes when he was a kid. And from there, the conversation escalated. He told her about his family and she told him about her own. They talked about places they've been with their family, places they liked, things they've done, things they liked to do, and then things they just liked. Zeke corrected her small mistakes as she did her assignment, and they kept talking even after Virgil and Charlie came to join the table.

Jay finished and she kissed the paper happily. "FINALLY! Trigonometry isn't such a pain in the ass anymore."

Zeke had been seeing her Vampire Smile (as he dubbed it) a lot recently and for the first time she turned it to him, making him focus on the two dull peaks. "Thanks for the help."

He forced his gaze away from her entrancing teeth and nodded. "No problem."


	5. Chapter 5

During lunch the next day, Jeanette skipped up to the table and said hello.

"I know it's none of my business, but where were you yesterday?" Virgil asked.

"Oh, a friend of mine is in the musical and since the crew was having a little get together, she invited me to go," Jeanette explained. She squealed and clapped her hands. "I'm so excited! I hear it's a comedy and I love watching a good comedy."

"What's the play even about?" Zeke waved his spoon around.

Jeanette held up a finger and rummaged through her bag while Virgil answered the question. "I think it's going to be a…biblical story? It's called Joseph and….the colorful coat of something. I can't remember it all."

Jeanette pulled out a poster and unrolled it, showing it to the group. "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

Zeke's eyebrows rose slightly as he went back to eating his applesauce. "That's a mouthful," he grumbled.

"I hope it isn't annoying," Jay said as Jeanette put the poster away. "I normally can't stand musicals."

"You don't have to see it," Zeke told her.

"We all have to, remember? There's gonna be a mandatory assembly for it," Jay reminded him.

Zeke let out an annoyed sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Well that sucks."

"I don't think it's that bad," Virgil said, "I mean, we are going to be supporting the arts if we watch this thing. And nothing is more important than having art."

"I beg to differ," Charlie scoffed. "SCIENCE is more important not to mention more USEFUL."

Virgil turned to him, prepared to argue his point. "Well Charlie, did you know that having art in schools actually helps students pay more attention to their other studies?..."

…

When Jay took a trigonometry test a week later, her thoughts kept coming back to Zeke and during lunch she approached the table with a wide smile.

"Look at my score," she proudly showed the group her test paper before setting it in front of Zeke.

"100%! Nice!" Virgil high-fived her.

"Thanks, it was incredibly easy." Jay looked at Zeke to see his reaction. He grinned approvingly and gave her a fist bump.

"Good job."

"Thanks." Her cheeks were beginning to feel sore from all the smiling, but she couldn't stop it as she looked at Virgil. "Aside from that, I ACTUALLY talked to people in my classes today."

"Really?" Virgil grinned encouragingly, knowing well that it was an accomplishment for her.

"Yeah. I just…talked. It's a lot easier than I thought."

"That's great Jay," Virgil said before he heard Stephanie's distinctive voice calling out to him. She was rushing in his direction and he stood, briefly thinking that she was hurt and freaking out. He realized that she was, but in a good way.

"Virgil guess what?" she asked ecstatically.

"What?"

"I got accepted into U.C. Belmont!" she squealed and hugged a shocked Virgil.

"What?" Virgil repeated in amazement. "That's great, you love that school!"

Stephanie inhaled a little to pace herself. "But it's not a done deal yet. It's a cheerleading scholarship, they're sending over a scout next week so I have to work extra hard on my pyramid dismount."

Virgil smiled genuinely at her. "Don't worry Steph, I have no doubt that you'll get it."

"Thanks."

Her smile made Virgil's heart leap and he heard someone from the popular table call her over. She quickly glanced back and looked at Virgil apologetically. "Oh, Derek. I have to go, talk to you later?"

"Yeah," Virgil nodded.

The next day Virgil stopped dead in his tracks when he entered the school building. All the populars were crowding around Stephanie because she had a broken leg. Virgil felt his heart sink into his stomach, especially when he caught the sad smile she gave him.

…

"I feel bad about Stephanie's broken leg and her lost scholarship, but I don't think we should do anything about it." Charlie heaved a box full of junk to the other side of the AV room. "Breaking a leg is a natural part of life."

"Charlie we have to help," Virgil argued, "that scholarship meant everything to her. Need I remind you, we are the Minutemen. Not the Weenie-Men."

"You're only saying that because you have a big creepy crush on her!" Charlie threw his hands up in the air.

"Oohh! Creepy crush? I vote yes!" Jeanette said, earning her a smile from Jay.

"I think we should help her too," Jay said. "I don't know how it happened, but this mistake shouldn't be the reason that keeps her from going to her favorite college."

"Zeke?" Virgil looked at the quiet teen who simply shrugged in agreement. Virgil turned to Charlie clapped his hands, smiling widely. "Ha! Four against one!"

Charlie looked at everyone. "You guys aren't going to stop, right?"

"Not until you agree," Virgil said.

There was a pause before Charlie sighed in frustration. "Fine."

…

Virgil, Charlie and Zeke were surveying the football field from behind a wall. Zeke jumped into the task at hand and commandeered a school cart while the other two were trying to figure out how to keep a low profile.

"Wait, where's Zeke?" Charlie asked when he noticed that the tall teen was missing. Just as he asked the question, Zeke appeared around the corner of the school on a red school cart and parked in front of them.

"All right let's go," Zeke hurried them. No sooner than the boys got on the car had Zeke sped onto the field towards the forming pyramid.

Vice Principal Tolkan was leaving Summerton High when he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made him stop his car. He got out and watched as the Snowsuit Guys sped across the football field on a SCHOOL CART. Now he didn't care if they were going to ignore his previous announcement about not getting involved in certain situations here at the school. He was most definitely NOT okay with them breaking rules and confiscating school property.

Ignoring the waiting vehicles behind his car, the vice principal ran up to the fence and began to climb over it, all the while shouting at the school's security guards to catch the three troublemakers.

Stephanie was at the top giving the cheer and she was doing great until Virgil saw a black speck hit her on the head, making her lose her balance.

"Hurry up!" he shouted uselessly. The cart was already going as fast as it could, but by the way things were playing out Virgil feared it wasn't fast enough.

Before Zeke fully stopped the cart, Virgil shoulder rolled off and stopped right at the place where Stephanie would hit the ground. It hurt when she crashed into him, but he was glad that she was safe.

She was taking deep breaths as she looked up at the pyramid and she turned to the Snowsuit Guy. "I don't know who you are, but you're amazing."

The mysterious teen grinned and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hurry up we gotta go!" the guy at the wheel said urgently because the school guards were closing in on them. He put the pedal to the metal and sped off, ditching the guards.

The one who helped Stephanie quickly got to his feet and ran after the cart, jumping on and giving the viewing students high-fives.

By the time Vice Principal Tolkan crashed onto the football field and fixed his crooked glasses, the Snowsuit Guys were long gone.

"I'll get you Snowsuit Guys," he grumbled angrily.


	6. Chapter 6

"What did you guys do?" Jay asked the boys as soon as they crash-landed on the mattresses.

Frowning, Virgil got to his feet. "Why?"

In response Jay held up a newspaper, allowing him to read the head line out loud.

"Snowsuit Guys Wanted?"

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Charlie exclaimed and hurried next to Virgil, who took the paper and quickly skimmed it.

"'Destructive'? 'Irresponsible'? We only borrowed the cart for a few minutes!" he threw his hands up as Charlie snatched the paper to read it completely.

"At least no one got hurt," Jeanette offered encouragingly.

"Yeah but now the guards are going to be on our case when we go back," Virgil said and began to pace.

"Look at the bright side Virg, we'll be on the run from Johnny Law," Zeke said with a small, satisfied grin. "Vigilantes, helping the uncool."

Catching the tall teen's drift, Jay mimicked the grin. "Outlaws? Like Batman?"

"Or Robin Hood!" Jeanette said.

"Nightwing," Zeke said.

"The Turtles," Jay said.

"The Mask," Jeannette said.

"Green Hornet," Zeke added.

"Or Green Arrow," Jay pointed a finger at him, wearing her full blown Vampire Smile.

"We'll be our own type of outlaw." Grinning, Zeke looked at Virgil and saw that the idea was starting to rub off on him.

After thinking about it for a while, Virgil smiled. "I like it."

Apparently, Charlie liked it too and he unexpectedly tossed the paper. "Aw yeah, we're Naughty Neds!"

Everyone gave him confused looks.

"It's what my mom calls me when I forget to floss."

…

"For any of you students that may have missed my announcement yesterday," Vice Principal Tolkan started over the intercom, "you 'Snowsuit Guys' better turn yourselves in to the school guards quietly. When you are caught, you will be severely punished, along with any students that know of your actual identity. If anyone has information regarding the Snowsuit Guys' identities, you best tell a school authority before it's too late."

…

"Has anyone noticed that Eugen's copped an attitude?" Virgil took his usual seat at the gang's lunch table.

Jay frowned and looked up from her food. "What?"

"You want attitude check out Chester," Zeke motioned his spoon over towards Chester's new table. He was treating his table like a bunch of trained animals, snapping his fingers at them to get him things.

"Weird," Jay said. "You'd think they'd set a GOOD example after being at the bottom of the food chain for so long."

Charlie, who managed to overhear the current conversation, approached the table and slammed the current newspaper on the surface.

"Robot Man Sues Old Lady!" the headline read and after skimming it, the group found out that this happened because Vice Principal Tolkan had 'unexpectedly' stopped his car, causing the old lady to stop and the Robot Man to crash into her.

"If changes like that keep happening, we'll have to stop using the machine," Charlie said, pointing at the paper. "Our travelling is changing things we never even planned on and it could damage the rift in time."

A few of the populars were walking by the group's table and they took notice in Chester's display. "It's like the dorks don't know their place anymore," one of them muttered.

Charlie glanced in the comment's general direction. "See?"

Just as Jay was beginning to feel a little panicked, Virgil held up his hands. "Whoa, hold on just a second. Nothing DRASTIC has happened yet. It's not like Chester's the captain of the basketball team or something. The only thing that we did was save him from complete and total humiliation and if that made him confident, fine."

As always, Charlie was up to argue. "But being confident and having an attitude are two separate things. Chester actually gaining an ATTITUDE—"

"Is not your fault," Jay cut in. "You shouldn't let Chester or Eugene stop you from doing something so great, it could leave you a legacy years after we've graduated. You guys are heroes. You shouldn't give that up."

She felt Zeke's steel blue eyes on her the entire time she spoke and she fought to ignore the heat swelling up in her cheeks.

"She's right," he spoke up. "I'd much rather keep doing something than stopping because of those two. I say we keep going."

Even though Jeanette wasn't present Charlie was still outnumbered, like always. "I invented the machine, why does it feel like I'm losing control of it?"

Virgil, Zeke and Jay grinned at his comment and shared looks with each other. This experience was turning into something that one person couldn't control; it was turning into something much grander.

"That's because you are," Zeke said.

…

Over the weekend, the group got together to eat at The Burger Hour and afterwards they decided to go to hang out at an elementary school. It was there that they discovered that Jay's hair was actually a dark purple color instead of black, so she explained how she came to dye to hair. They swung on the swings and hopped around on an outline of the United States while Jay practiced her skateboarding skill. Anyone could tell she was a beginner by the way she wobbled at her cautious pace and when it was time to go, it was easy to see that she was getting better. The gang had decided to go to Charlie's place to countdown the top ten scariest car accidents.

Zeke got on his motorcycle as Virgil unlocked his car. "Do any of you want to ride with me?"

Jay knew that he mainly directed the question to the boys and she fought the urge to smile when she saw them hesitate.

"Uh…I think I'm the only one licensed to drive a car," Virgil said, leaving Charlie as a final option.

The short teen looked like he was going to throw up. "I don't want to fall off and break my head open."

Zeke simply held up his helmet in reply.

Charlie timidly took it. "Okay…Do you have something for the rest of my body?"

Zeke looked at him in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me Charlie."

For some reason, Jay was wired to step up to the plate when no one else felt like doing it. If the teacher asked a question and no one answered, she would be the one to break the silence. However, this was Zeke and the idea of being alone with the kid made her both excited and nervous.

"I'll go," she blurted, volunteering without making it sound like a suggestion.

The tall teen's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Are you sure?"

The truth was that she wasn't, but she couldn't back out now. "Yeah, I'll just leave my board in Virgil's trunk."

Nobody said anything as Virgil popped the trunk open, allowing Jay to put her skateboard inside. She avoided looking directly at Zeke's blue eyes as she put on his helmet. Then came the hard part: actually GETTING ON the motorcycle. She climbed on and hesitantly placed her hands on his waist, sending electric shocks down her spine and making her heart pump faster. Zeke fired up the engine.

"You might want to hang on a little tighter," he told her before following Virgil out of the parking lot.

**-XY-**

**I feel confident with the way the story's turning out. If any of you have any suggestions, concerns, etc. ,feel free to leave them. C:**


	7. Chapter 7

"Why is it that you don't go by Jade?" Zeke asked after watching Jay write her name down on yet another one of her assignments during lunch.

The question took her completely by surprise.

"What?"

"Why don't you go by Jade?"

She looked at her fingers cap and uncap her pen. "I feel like it's not…a suitable name for me."

Zeke frowned curiously. "Why not?"

"It's too…It's complicated. When I think of the name Jade I think of a girl who's like a gem, essentially. Someone who's really pretty and popular. The other thing I think about is a girl who's kind of a rebel. Someone who's quiet, bossy, kind of punk-ish, doesn't care what others think. I'm not either of those things."

Zeke was both astounded by her answer and confused. She JUST described herself…well, the second time. How could she say she wasn't someone she actually was? "Yes you are."

"No I'm not," she said insistently.

"Okay you're quiet, you look like you like rock," he gestured to her outfit of the day: a black and grey striped long sleeve, dark jeans, and her usual black sneakers. The sentence sounded weird so he repeated himself. "You look as if you have a thing for the genre. You—"

"Dude, I didn't mean nervous quiet I meant careless quiet," Jay interrupted. "I've kept to myself for two long years; you guys are the first friends I've actually made since I've moved here. No matter how much I want to talk to people, I can't—I have to be in a really good mood to do that—when I'm by myself I want to make friends, but when I'm around new people I want to be by myself—"

"You know what that means?" Zeke asked.

Jay looked confused and she tried to think of an answer. "…I'm indecisive?"

"Deep down, you know that you don't need any of those people," Zeke pointed a finger at her heart. "You don't need friends."

"…Including you guys?" she asked with a playful grin.

Zeke chuckled. "Okay let me tell you something. Being in high school isn't about making as much friends as you can. Everyone here's superficial; they can't be real friends to save their lives. You have to make as much REAL friends as you can and it isn't a lot. Out of everyone in this lunchroom, handfuls are true friends because they're the only ones that understand what it is to be one. I say that even loners like me can make one true friend if they look in the right place."

"Loners like US," Jay corrected him.

"Yeah, like us."

A moment of silence passed before another playful smirk appeared on her lips. "What if I told you my parents were going to name me Jaden because they thought I was a boy?"

…

"This is getting frustrating," Zeke groaned as he stood up from the mattresses.

"I know, I know," Virgil said.

"We're going to have to find a new way here or something to distract those two girls," Charlie added.

Jeanette turned off the machine and Jay walked around to the corner to ask them what in the heck they were talking about.

"You know how the vice principal basically painted a target on our heads?" Zeke said. "Now because we're outlaws, the school newspaper has reporters waiting for us every time we go back."

"There's these two girls that are really persistent about getting a scoop though," Virgil said. "One's Riley, the reporter, and the other's Marcy, the photographer. It's like they've sworn to figure out who we are before the month ends."

"Oh and on top of that, we've got the school guards chasing our tails whenever they see even a flash of white clothes," Charlie said. "I don't think we get a single break when we go back in time now."

Jay made a face. It sounded like a difficult month to be Minuteman. "Geez…"

"There's nothing we can do but stick it out," Zeke said with a sigh.

"Don't worry," Jeannete spoke up, "it'll get better in a few weeks."

…

A few days later, Jay found herself leaving the school right after the final bell rang which felt weird because normally, she'd be in the basement with the others. Warning Jeanette to inform the boys, Jay set her skateboard on the ground and rode out. Lately she had been bringing it to school because she felt confident enough to skate in public without making clumsy mistakes.

As she went on, she came across the downward slope that led students out to the parking lot on the east side. Thinking that she could handle it, Jay didn't stop to walk and only when she was halfway down did she start to panic. She was going a little too fast to suit her however, she couldn't stop and if she tried, she'd surely end up tripping over her own feet.

The panic overrode her mind and she began to turn towards the grass, but the wide crack between two cement slabs caught on to the front wheels of her skateboard. It created a jump that made Jay fly right off the surface. Stumbling for balance, Jay ran right into a garbage can and knocked it down, scraping her hands and knee.

As if taking a spill wasn't bad enough, Jay ended up sitting on something moist, an obvious mark that would be cause for humiliation. The laughter and snickering of her classmates made her eyes burn and her throat tighten. Now she knew what the outsiders felt like when they were embarrassed and deep down, she was grateful that the Minutemen existed to prevent these kinds of situations. It was all overwhelming and the worst thing was that no one was there to help her, not the Minutemen, not a concerned classmate. No one even tried.

Jay got to her feet and ran off the school property, purposefully leaving the stupid board behind.

…

"Guys with all this time travelling, I ACTUALLY want to see Back to the Future," Virgil said after Jeanette filled the boys in on Jay's absence.

Jeanette clapped her hands excitedly. "We should have a marathon!"

Virgil turned to Zeke next. "Are you in?"

Zeke shrugged a shoulder and returned a grin. "Why not?"

All three teens looked at Charlie last. "I have a feeling you all ask each other first so you can turn against me, but I'll let it go this time."

Judging by the way he was smiling and the fact that he didn't add more, Virgil turned back to the other two with open arms. "He said yes. Lady and gentleman we are in business."

Zeke was going to make the suggestion to call Jay, but he was relieved that Jeanette beat him to the punch.

"Virgil you're the only one that has your cellphone I bet, so I suggest you call her," Charlie said.

The blonde searched his pockets and pulled it out, but he tossed it to Zeke. "You call her; I need to put the stuff away."

He smiled smugly when he saw the split second of pure surprise on Zeke's face, but neither of them said anything else. While Virgil neatly folded the suits in a box, Zeke walked away from the small group to make the phone call. He felt nervous at what she would think when she picked up and heard his voice instead of Virgil's, but then he scolded himself.

Why should I care? It's JUST a phone call.

When she didn't pick up, the tall teen sent her a text instead.

[Zeke] Hey we're going to have a movie night Charlies. Want t come?

Going back into the main gathering space, he tossed Virgil his cellphone back. "She didn't answer."

"Hmm. Maybe she's still busy with her errand. Let's try later," he said before changing the subject. "I'm hungry for some noodles."

…

The three boys found themselves at Panda Express half an hour later. They were laughing at a joke Virgil was telling when he jolted in surprise. Pulling out his phone, he muttered, "Gotta set it off vibration mode."

He read the text he got and looked up at the boys with a small frown. "She says she'll pass. She doesn't feel good."

"Did you tell her its Back to the Future?" Charlie asked. "No one can resist its classic charms no matter how bad they feel."

"Nah, I say we let her rest," Virgil said, much to Zeke's disappointment. "I wouldn't want her feeling any worse."


	8. Chapter 8

After parking his motorcycle at school and throwing his ratty backpack over his shoulder, Zeke stalked towards the entrance of Summerton High. He never noticed details to the rest of the student population, but today a familiar skateboard caught his attention. His chest-piece (as he dubbed his heart since he HATED that word) gave a little leap as he prepared to talk to Jay, but he was taken aback when he saw some random punk kid showing his friends a few kick flips.

Zeke was positive the board was Jay's since the wheels were a clear silver color, but he waved the thought off. Maybe the guy just happened to buy the same board that she had. He went in and spotted Jay just around the corner of the cafeteria. She always dressed with a slight punk influence and a dark color scheme, but today she was wearing too much black. Zeke didn't even know she owned a pair of fingerless black biker gloves until he got a glance of them today.

The thing that really warned Zeke that something was wrong was her posture. She was slouching, keeping her head down, and she was avoiding eye contact, her uncombed hair covering most of her face. As Zeke was catching up to her, he heard a few snickers. Knowing what they were, he made a mental note to find the unfortunate victim for them before pushing the thought away.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked Jay when he was within hearing range.

She turned her head to the side to get a glance of him. "Yeah, thanks."

They had reached a set of stairs when Zeke knew something was dead wrong. Jay lifted her right knee to climb them, but she winced and hissed.

She was injured.

Zeke grabbed her arm and led her around a corner next to a vending machine where they'd get a little privacy.

"What happened to your leg?"

He was thankful she didn't even try to deny it. "…I fell off my board yesterday."

"Where?" he asked, beginning to dread the answer.

Jay inhaled slowly before replying. "Here. After school."

His blood froze as he finally understood the snickering and his anger sparked when he realized that the punk kid from earlier had been riding HER board. He ran a hand through his hair and paced to cool off. "What happened?"

She explained how she lost control on the little slope at the side of the school and she ran into one of the garbage cans, smearing her bum (as she called it) with leftover food. Zeke noticed how Jay lowered her gaze in embarrassment and he grabbed her by the shoulders to force her to look at him.

"You should have come to the basement, we would've stopped it."

"I know, but there were people…And I just wanted to leave," she said, bringing her hands up to rub her face. Underneath the gloves, Zeke caught something white wrapped around her wrists. Without saying anything, he took one of them and gently slid the glove off only to find her palm wrapped in a white bandage.

"It's not as bad as it look," she said while he carefully inspected her hand, frowning slightly. She pulled her hand away and put the glove back on. Zeke stared at her blankly as she pushed her bangs out of her face, the florescent lights of the school making the purple color of her hair faintly visible. Deep down, it hurt him that she'd been through that and it hurt that he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it until after school.

"Look, I'll see you at lunch okay?" She climbed up the stairs with her left knee first. "As much as I would love to ditch, I have to get to class."

Zeke resisted the urge to tell her not to go to avoid the snickering reminders of yesterday. After ignoring the impulse to find the punk kid and beat him into the ground during lunch, he was more than relieved when the final bell rang. He was the first one at the basement, suited up and ready to jump through.

"All right let's go," he rushed the other two. Virgil was still in the process of zipping up his suit, but he decided to walk as he finished up the last touches. He knew if he didn't, it would frustrate and anger Zeke.

"Okay let's do this."

…

Zeke was the first one to see the slope. He looked around for Jay and managed to spot her just as Virgil and Charlie caught up.

"Slow…down," Charlie panted, leaning on his knees.

Zeke ignored him and sprinted off towards the slope. "Move the garbage can!"

Just in case I don't make it or something else happens, he told himself.

"Move!" he shouted at the crowd of people beginning to form around him. He just needed to reach the wide crack before Jay did.

She was beginning to turn towards the grass and Zeke caught up, swooping her off of her board just as she was reaching the crack. Her board clattered loudly when it hit it and flipped over, sliding to the spot where the trash can used to be.

Zeke was panting, catching his breath, and the viewing spectators cheered. It was only when jay tried to turn that he realized his arm was around her waist, holding onto her tightly as if he were protecting her.

And in a way, he was.

He quickly let go and she flashed him the Vampire Smile he liked to look at.

"I don't know what I missed, but thanks Snowsuit," she said.

He gave her a mocking stern look. "You know what the name is."

"And your point is?"

Zeke couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face as he ran off with Virgil and Charlie.


	9. Chapter 9

Just as Jay had predicted weeks ago, there was an assembly to show case Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The entire student population was excused from their classes to make their way into the auditorium. Virgil, Charlie, Zeke, Jay and Jeanette met up and after some arguments, decided to sit close to the front. Catching Stephanie out of the corner of his eye, Virgil waved hello before taking a seat in between Charlie and Jeanette, since the short teen was so insistent about it. Virgil smiled to himself as he saw Zeke and Jay in their own world next to Charlie and the musical started after a few reminders to turn off all cellphones and not be a distraction to the rest of the auditorium.

Although he didn't understand a single word of what was sung, Virgil managed to pick out enough to enjoy the show. When the part of the Elvis inspired pharaoh came up, the gang laughed as the actor came to their row and pulled Jay out of her seat to dance with her. Flushed and dazed by being in the spotlight, Jay took her seat after the Elvis pharaoh spun her one last time. The show was so good, even Zeke was grinning in amusement.

Then came the more unexpected part.

Just as the dance number was finishing up, Chester ran across the stage IN NOTHING BUT A PAIR OF WHITE BOXERS.

The student body roared in laughter as the boy ran through the actors, making them repel like a bunch of magnets. It seemed that somehow, the laughter got louder when a group of teachers ran on to try to catch him.

"For a guy with nudity issues, he's certainly come a full circle," Virgil managed to say.

"Aw this is great," Zeke said, rubbing his sore cheeks.

Chester ran in a circle a few times and just as he was running off, he was tackled. The students cheered for him as he was dragged out and it took the actors on stage a while to figure out from which point to start the musical up again. They finished and the students were excused to go back to class.

Outside the auditorium, Virgil caught Stephanie saying goodbye to Derek and he took the opportunity to approach her.

"Can you believe what happened?" he said in a greeting.

Stephanie smiled. "It was funny, but some things are better off being left unseen."

"Couldn't agree more," Virgil said. "So how's the scholarship coming along?"

Her face lit up. "I just hope all this practice is good enough. Don't freak out, but the other day I fell off of the pyramid during practice. I don't know why, I just felt something…hit my head. But before I hit the ground, one of the Snowsuit Guys caught me."

Virgil pretended to be surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. I don't know how they did it, but if it wasn't for them I'm pretty sure I'd have a broken leg by now."

Virgil bit his tongue to keep from telling her about how she DID break her leg.

"They're just amazing," Stephanie continued. "Thankfully, I'll be able to perform at the football game tonight which is when the scout will determine if I'm good enough or not."

"No pressure or anything right?" Virgil snorted.

"Yeah," Stephanie chuckled. "You should come and you know, support the team."

"Yours or Derek's?" Virgil teased.

"Mmm…Both. Well I'll see you later." She waved goodbye as they reached a corner.

…

Virgil ignored his friends' side conversations during the game and kept his eyes on the cheerleading squad. Their routines were perfect, the girls moved and responded with machine-like synchronization, and when it came for the pyramid, Virgil thought that the mounts and dismounts were flawless.

While Stephanie was doing well with her team, Derek was dominating the football field with his. Because of him, the team ultimately won the game. The students jumped from their seats and hugged each other, cheering Derek's name. After high-fiving his friends, Virgil tried to get to the ground to congratulate Stephanie, but settled with leaning against the rail when he saw that the gates were locked.

"Stephanie!" he shouted through cupped hands. "Steph!"

She heard him and waved, smiling widely.

Virgil gave her two thumbs-up. "Great job!"

He couldn't hear her reply, but he knew she understood when she returned the gesture. One of the cheerleaders turned her attention away and Virgil watched as Stephanie walked off from the field with her team.

…

The Burger Hour seemed more packed than usual. Virgil felt extremely cramped as he walked back to the gang's table with his order. Jay and Jeanette laughed at something Zeke said, making Charlie flustered and embarrassed.

"What did I miss?" Vigil asked, digging into his food.

Jay tried to catch her breath. "Zeke just said tha—"

Virgil jolted in response to his vibrating cellphone. He held up a finger while he pulled it out and answered it. "Yeah?"

"Virgil, we're going to have a party at Derek's house if you and your friends want to come," Stephanie said. "I already told him and he said it's okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Virgil grinned. "Okay thanks for the invite. We'll see you there." He flipped his phone shut and looked at his friends. "Stephanie invited us to a party, wanna go?"

Their expressions weren't exactly encouraging.

"Where at?" Zeke asked.

"Derek's place."

"The quarterback?" Zeke said. "Yeah, I think I'll pass."

"Aw come o—"

"Me too," Jay cut Virgil off. "I don't think I'll feel comfortable there."

"What?" Virgil frowned. "Why?"

"They're, well they're…you know…" Jay couldn't bring herself to finish the thought.

"Popular," Zeke said. "They're popular. We don't belong with them."

"But we were invited," Virgil said.

"By Derek himself?" Zeke countered. "Or Stephanie?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything," Charlie finally spoke up. "Virgil I doubt that Derek was excited with the idea of us going to his party. If anything, I believe that we were 'invited' because Stephanie somehow managed to persuade him otherwise."

Virgil wasn't about to hear this nonsense. He knew that what Charlie said wasn't true because he's known Derek and Stephanie since they were children. They used to be best friends back in the day. They've had so many good times together, it was difficult to accept the implications the group was making.

His face hardened and he took a final sip of Coke before standing up. "Fine. If you guys don't want to go, stay here."


	10. Chapter 10

Things had been going great lately, Jay thought. After the day that Summerton won at the football game, it seemed that Virgil had a spring to his step because he got back into contact with his old friends. Jay felt happy for him, she really did, and she believed that things couldn't get better than they were now. She was getting along really well with Zeke and it seemed that Charlie was tolerating Jeanette a little more than usual.

PE was as boring and time consuming as always, but it felt fantastic to Jay. That's how cheerful she was, PE (the crappiest class at school) was now freaking awesome. Her class had taken a timed race and Jay improved by a lot. She was hot and sweaty when she went in the locker room, but she didn't care.

Before she knew it, she was dressed and out in the hall. The sound of cruel laughter made her whip around and the sight made her freeze. There was an average girl—average as in not a walking stereotype—that had obviously come out of the locker room after Jay. Her tan jeans had big red stains in the front and in the back, every teenage girl's NIGHTMARE. While some girls wore sympathetic expressions, the crueler ones whipped out their phones and snapped a few pictures before the girl zipped back into the locker room.

Crap, I need to start carrying a sweater again, Jay scolded herself, finding the courage to go into the locker room after the girl.

"E-Excuse me," she heard a timid, anxious voice say. "I wanna—"

"Oh I'm sorry, are we in your way?"

Jay turned a corner and saw the situation. A group of girls were blocking the way to go to the bathroom stalls. The victim had to choose to cover either her rear end or the front side.

One of the girls caught sight of Jay. "Uh, can we help you?"

Jay had never felt more disgusted with herself than when she turned her head away and muttered, "No."

She turned and left. A numb feeling made her walk in a dazed fashion until suddenly, she found herself all alone in the halls. She was such a coward. If she couldn't help ONE girl, she didn't deserve the second chance Zeke and the others gave her the day they stopped her from falling off of her skateboard. How could she just ABANDON someone in need like that? Jay couldn't even begin to imagine what those girls had done to the victim.

She kept telling herself that she didn't deserve to be friends with people as nice as Virgil, Charlie, Zeke or Jeanette. Now THEY would have done something without backing off. Maybe their presence in the locker room would have created some major fan-girling; a distraction for the victim to escape.

Jay's eyes went wide as her brain put two and two together.

Excited, she pulled out her phone and texted Jeanette as she ran out of the school to get some supplies.

…

"Guys I have the next mission!" Jay said before she entered the basement. Luckily, Jeanette was already there with a box that hopefully had Jay's request. Virgil was still absent, but everyone knew he was going to show up a little later.

"It looks like we're going to have a double shift today," Zeke said, pushing himself off of a pillar. "We need to go back to help this kid get rid of some toilet paper."

Jay frowned. "Huh?"

"This guy came out of the bathroom with some toilet paper stuck in his pants," Zeke explained. "He was laughed at as soon as everyone got out of class."

"How are we going to do this then?" Jay asked. "Because the one that I had in mind is going to be…different."

"How so?" Zeke said.

Jay shared a look with Jeanette before answering. "Jeanette and I have to go back to stop it."

She received two surprised expressions.

"Hold on," Charlie held up a hand. "YOU and JEANETTE are going to go back in time and become Minute…girls?"

"Trust me, you aren't going to want to take care of this one," Jay warned. "It's going to require you to go into the girls' locker room to take care of some girl business."

It was then that Virgil showed up, opening and closing the heavy door with a loud creak. He went into the main gathering space. "Hey guys, so what did I miss?"

"Jay and Jeanette are going to go back today," Zeke said shortly.

"What?" Virgil frowned in confusion.

Jay snapped up a hand. "Girl business."

"Hmm…Sounds like we're going to have to split up," Virgil said, walking over to the small group. "Of course, one of us will have to stay—"

Charlie's reply was immediate. He sat down at the computer. "Okay, I'll monitor the machine. You guys have fun."

Smirking, Virgil looked at the remaining three. "Since there are two missions, we'll go in two's. Me and Zeke. Jay and Jeanette. We'll go complete the missions and we'll go back to basement as soon as we're done."

"Think you can handle it?" Zeke asked them. "Don't forget we have the school guards AND the newspaper reporters after us."

Jay and Jeanette shared a look.

"We can do it."

"All right then," Virgil said. "Let's suit up."

…

The girls finally understood how the snowsuits came in handy; jumping through the vortex was freezing cold! Other than that and a quick shake of their heads to get rid of the dizziness, the girls felt fine. As the four were leaving the basement, Virgil was telling them to avoid running into their past selves.

"You can see each other if you happen to cross paths, just don't touch each other," Virgil said.

"Got it," Jay nodded, making a mental note to avoid her past self in the locker room.

They were coming around a corner when they saw a glimpse of a school guard. They immediately ducked back around the corner and peered around every few seconds to see when the guard would leave. They reached the point where they needed to split up, but Zeke was hesitant about letting the girls go off on their own.

"Just get to the basement as quickly and safely as you can," he told them. Before the girls departed he snagged Jay's arm, his steel blue eyes staring into hers intensely. "Be careful. Don't let the guards catch you or all hell will break loose."

With a final nod, Jay and Jeanette were on their way to the locker room. Jay was careful with her messenger bag, keeping it from shaking it too much to keep her supplies safe. She tried to think of a way to get Jeanette out of the locker room so she wouldn't see the carton of eggs she brought along on the trip. Since she couldn't come up with one, she decided to be extra cautious when it came time to use them.

Careful to keep the carton hidden, Jay pulled it out and handed the messenger bag to Jeanette. "Here, find a locker with tan jeans and put it in there. It has extra clothes and a handful of you know, pads."

Jeanette bobbed her head excitedly. "Okay."

She left Jay scanning the lockers, trying to identify the ones that belonged to those bullies. It took her a while, but when she found them she opened the lid to the eggs. "It's payback time."

"All right! I'm…done," Jeanette came skipping back. Jay wasn't fast enough to hide the carton and Jeanette saw them. "What are those for?"

"Um—Th-These? They're nothing really," Jay stammered, quickly closing the lid and hiding them behind her back. Jeanette looked at her in confusion, sadness but most importantly, distrust. Jay couldn't stand that expression for one reason: Jeanette had been her first friend. Everything that's happened, this incredible life, was made possible because of Jeanette's persistence to join a club that one day. The thought of losing her as a friend made Jay feel like an ungrateful prick.

She sighed, bringing the eggs to the front again. "I was going to…egg the bullies' lockers."

Jeannette was appalled but Jay also detected a sense of disappointment. "We represent the Minutemen and they stop injustices before they happen. They don't cause them. If we were to get even…we wouldn't be any better than they are."

She turned and slowly began to walk away. "Don't disgrace them," she added sadly before leaving the locker room.

The five minute bell rang, meaning that the girls from the gym would come barging in any second. If there were any last second attempts to get revenge, now would be the time. But Jay merely sat down and looked at the eggs.

...Jeanette was right. What was the point of coming back in time if more problems would be made than solved? Those girls did deserve some kind of punishment, but it wasn't Jay's right to dish it out. She just had to do her best to avoid it and help others do the same.

Sighing, Jay left the eggs at the bench just as the locker room door was slammed open. Jolting back into action, she ran out to the halls before the girls got a glimpse of her.

…

"Jeanette!" Jay ran as quickly as she could without attracting too much attention. "Jeanette!"

"Yeah?"

The girls almost ran into each other around the corner.

"Oh, geez!" Jay exclaimed. She set a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go before I go back to do it."

She was tackled in a bear hug.

"What the-?!"

"I knew you were a keeper," Jeanette said.


	11. Chapter 11

"Bam!" Jay slammed the newspaper on the lunch table in front of the guys. "Check this out you guys."

"We're officially your sidekicks!" Jeanette chirped happily.

"PARTNERS." Jay held up a finger towards her.

"Right, partners."

The boys leaned in to read the headline. "The Minutemen: New Recruits," the title said.

"Nice!" Virgil high-fived Zeke. "It's about time they got the name right."

"I guess you're lucky that I happened to set them on the right track," Jay sat down, wearing her Vampire Smile.

"How?" Virgil asked.

"When we went back to help that girl, I left her a note," Jay explained shortly.

"We're lucky we even got the Snowsuit Guys," Zeke said. "Imagine what we would've been called had we stuck with our old costumes."

"The Hobos," Jay said.

"The Hitchhikers," Zeke added.

Grinning, Jay nodded. "Yeah it could have been MUCH worse."

…

Virgil decided to take Charlie and Jeanette back to the past this time. He wanted to give Zeke and Jay some time to hang out, but he also wanted to give the big guy some time to rest; he'd been going back on EVERY mission, Virgil thought he needed some time to rest. Although Zeke was hesitant about it at first, he finally agreed to stay behind when Virgil reassured him multiple times that he, Charlie and Jeanette could handle the heat of the past.

After helping a majorly clumsy kid, the trio ran down the stairs to the lower level when the five minute bell rang. A guard passed the base of the stairs, making them skid to a stop. Unfortunately, the guard saw them and as soon as he recognized them he gave a shout, starting up the stairs.

Virgil, Charlie and Jeanette sprinted up the stairs and upon Virgil's demand, they split up. Instinctively, Jeanette followed Charlie while Virgil ran off on his own. Charlie didn't notice because he was focused on escaping the guard and he saw the hall coming up fast on his right.

"Come on." He grabbed Jeanette's arm knowing that if they went around they'd be able to hide. He steered them into the hall and went around a corner, pushing them against the wall.

"Do you…think he…followed…Virgil?" Jeanette managed to ask among her gasps. Charlie slowly peered around the corner and immediately pulled back when he saw the guard's figure. He slapped a hand over Jeanette's mouth and essentially squeezed her against the wall as he cowered away from the corner.

Controlling his breathing, Charlie listened as the footsteps faded away. He was so tense, Jeanette had to poke him in the ribs way after the footsteps disappeared. When he didn't respond, she tried to talk.

Blinking suddenly, Charlie took his hand off of her mouth. "Huh?"

"How long are we going to stay like this?" Jeanette whispered.

The scenario finally hit Charlie and with a yelp, he jumped away from Jeanette, shaking his arm as if he were putting out a fire.

"Let's just go," he finally said. "And forget that anything happened," he muttered under his breath.

"Like what?" Jeanette asked.

Charlie gave her a look and shook his head. "Never mind. Let's go find Virgil."

…

"Maybe it's just me, but lately I've felt like I'm being stalked," Zeke said a few days later in the basement. "I hate it."

Virgil raised his hand. "I've felt the same thing. So the other day I went to the gas station to buy a slushee and I was getting these weird vibes from a guy in a suit."

"Hold up," Jay held up her hands and paused before asking. "Was he wearing sunglasses?"

Virgil frowned in confusion. "Yeeaahh…Where are you going with this?"

"Inside?"

Virgil nodded slowly and tried to catch her drift. "Yeeaahh."

"Why would he wear sunglasses inside?" Jay wondered. "That's weird."

Charlie was panicking while the rest talked. He was breathing really fast and playing with his fingers.

Jeanette noticed. "What's wrong hummingbird?"

He hesitated. "…There was one piece of the formula that evaded my mind for several years until I found what I was looking for through an extensive, round-the-clock internet downloading procedure."

Staring at Charlie intensely, Zeke deciphered his language. "He was hacking."

"Hacking?" Jay and Jeanette said together.

"It gets worse," Charlie rubbed his mouth. Virgil was wondering how this could get WORSE when Charlie's next answer made his blood freeze. "I robbed NASA."

"You robbed NASA?!" Virgil asked loudly. Everyone else stared at Charlie with wide eyes, their shock making it difficult for them to react as Virgil did.

Charlie held up his hands to calm Virgil down. "It's not as bad as it sounds."

"No it's way worse than it sounds!" Virgil paced in place, trying hard to slow his breathing down. "If we go to jail—"

"Whoa, whoa," Jay interrupted. "No one said ANYTHING about going to jail."

"If we do and we share a cell," Zeke started, looking at Virgil and Charlie as he spoke, "you guys should know that I snore like a chainsaw."

"The files were from the 1900s. They were defunct. NO ONE HAD LOOKED AT THEM FOR AGES," Charlie said the sentence slowly to get the concept through.

"By the way things are working out, I'd say they just did," Virgil said, placing a hand up to his forehead and another on his hip.

"We'll be fine," Charlie reassured him. "We just have to stop using the machine and lay low for a while."

The mere thought of stopping the missions brought an eerie silence in the basement.

"But…what about those kids?" Jay asked softly.

Charlie looked at her helplessly as if saying, 'We've got no choice.' Jeanette couldn't handle the emotion and she bowed her head down. After another moment of silence, Virgil sighed loudly and brought his other hand to his hip. He looked up at the ceiling. "Okay. We'll lay low."


	12. Chapter 12

The time that the gang took off from the machine felt strange, but they somehow managed to adjust. Virgil took the opportunity to hang out with Stephanie to study so it soon became Zeke, Charlie, Jay and Jeanette. It was still going pretty great, the five still hung out during lunch, but without Virgil there after school it still felt incomplete. The gang was wondering when this vacation was going to end when a week and a half later, trouble came afoot.

Virgil was in his first period class when one of the school guards came in and asked him to follow him. He was escorted to the Vice Principal's office where he saw his four friends and the two reporters. Already, he began to dread this little meeting but he couldn't help but ask what was going on as he took a seat next to Charlie.

"I'm deciding whether or not I should expel you MINUTEMEN," the Vice Principal stared at the boys, trying his best to sound intimidating. He gave Jay and Jeanette a quick apologetic look. "And girls."

Jay rolled her eyes and, smiling, Jeanette gave the Vice Principal a little nod of acknowledgement.

Virgil gulped and forced out a chuckle in an effort to break the tension. "Whaat? We aren't the—"

"Save it," Vice Principal Tolkan snapped up a hand. "Riley and Marcy found your hideout. You're finished."

"What?" Virgil turned a frown to them. "How—?"

Riley blew a curl out of her face and interrupted. "Since you disappeared, I was going to need to report on SOMETHING so I was assigned to get a statement from each club. During my journalism period, I went around leaving notes to warn the clubs that I was going to ask them a few questions."

The curl came back in front of her face, so she flicked her head to the side.

"It wasn't locked?" Virgil turned a hard glare at Charlie, who shrank away from him.

Vice Principal Tolkan opened a folder and slid Marcy's pictures across his desk. "We have evidence that THIS is the Minutemen's hideout and even if you aren't the Minutemen, you're still going to get punished for NOT telling me about this. Until I can decide what to do, the five of you will spend the rest of the day in detention."

The five friends let out five different exclamations as Riley and Marcy bowed their heads slightly in shame.

The Vice Principal held up a hand to silence the commotion. "Effective immediately." His face twitched slightly at the seven confused looks he was receiving. "I've always wanted to say that," he muttered by way of an explanation.

He cleared his throat. "You'll be escorted to your classes to retrieve your possessions and then you'll be taken to the detention room."

As the five were led out the office, Virgil glanced angrily at the two reporters who in turn gave him helpless, sad looks.

…

"This is ridiculous," Jay scanned the room in fascination and disbelief. "I've never been in detention my whole life."

"Me either," Jeanette squeaked, playing with the charms on one of her bracelets.

Virgil paced frantically. "How is it possible that the door to the basement was UNLOCKED?"

"It should have been locked," Charlie said. "I-I don't remember if I did or didn't—"

"It doesn't matter," Virgil interrupted loudly. His tone made the girls flinch and Charlie stare back helplessly without a reply.

"Hey, don't talk to Charlie that way," Zeke snapped, glaring at Virgil. "It's not his fault those damn girls went down there."

Virgil sighed and rubbed his face with both hands. A million thoughts ran through his mind and possible solutions grew dimmer and dimmer by the second. "You're right…"

His tone dismissed Zeke from his defensive posture, and he slinked back into his usual slouched position.

"I'm sorry man," Virgil addressed Charlie. "It's just…How are we going to get out of this?"

"We'll figure something out," Charlie said reassuringly, taking a step towards his friend now that he had calmed down.

The door opened and the five found a seat, the girls a little more quickly than the boys. The detention teacher walked in and let a folder drop on the podium near the left corner of the classroom. Before speaking, he pushed his black-rimmed glasses up a little. "I'm just going to start off by saying that I'm not the detention teacher," he admitted in a relaxed, straight-forward manner. "For those of you who don't know me, I teach World Civ. Since they didn't have anyone else to supervise you, they took my consultation period away."

Jay held up a finger curiously; the gesture wasn't as shy as it would have been had this teacher presented himself differently. "Uh, what's your name?"

The teacher opened the folder and checked a few things off. "I've had the fortune of being born with a pretty average name: Mr. Cunningham." He closed the folder and looked up at the five. "Now I know why you're here—"

Virgil gulped down the knot that formed in his throat.

"—and although I don't agree with this, I would still get fired if I don't do what my second boss wants me to do."

Charlie raised his hand. "Wait so you know that we're-?"

"Charlie," Zeke turned a sharp look towards him.

Cunningham waved a hand at Zeke as if to calm him down and he paced to the front of the classroom, crossing his arms. "The truth is that at this point, the whole school knows that you five are AT LEAST involved. If not everyone, the ones that read the newspaper."

"Oh great," Virgil muttered, slinking back into his seat.

"So here's what's going to happen guys," Cunningham walked back to the podium at the corner. "I can't have you sit in silence because chances are that I'm going to fall asleep. I can't show you something because if a supervisor walks in, it won't end well for either of us. So to try to make it as painless as possible, I'm going to have you vote on two options…"

…

The gang was helping Cunningham correct his students' tests and while they worked, he was chill enough to play old rock songs to avoid any awkward silences. Virgil decided that he liked Cunningham and he became grateful that he was the one that was in charge of their detention session. About ten minutes into their work, the door opened and the five friends were surprised to see Marcy the Photographer standing in the doorway.

"Cunningham? I really need to talk to you about my test score."

He went to talk to her in a lower tone. "I don't think you failed, if that's what you're worried about."

Marcy tugged at the sleeves of her long-sleeved shirt and to Virgil, she seemed a little nervous. "Um, is it okay if we talk out in the hall?"

"Yeah, okay."

Almost as soon as Marcy and Cunningham left, the door opened again and Riley the Reporter rushed in. "To start off, I just wanted to say that I am so sorry. I never meant any of this to happen."

Zeke grunted earning him the same helpless glance that Charlie gave Virgil earlier from her.

"Well, it isn't exactly YOUR fault," Virgil said by way of accepting her apology.

"No," she held up a hand firmly. "I should have known better than to think my teacher was going to keep the secret. I just wish I never went to her."

A light bulb went off in Virgil's mind and a wide grin formed on his face. "If you NEVER went to her…"

Charlie caught his drift and he stared at the blonde with wide eyes. "You seriously can't be suggesting what I KNOW you're suggesting."

Virgil simply stared at him with his crazy grin.

"What is it?" What's going on?" Riley looked back and forth between the two boys.

Just as Virgil opened his mouth to reply, Mr. Cunningham came back. "Riley? What are you doing here?"

"Oh um, I was…looking for…"

"Marcy," Virgil spoke up. "She was asking where Marcy was."

Riley nodded quickly and pointed at Virgil. "Yeah. Um, do you know where she is?"

Cunningham stared suspiciously at her for a second before replying, "Yeah. She just went down the hall to the Commons."

"Thanks." Riley rushed past him, her naturally curly hair bouncing with each step.

Cunningham walked back to his desk in the back corner. "I don't know what you guys were talking about but since you're still here, I'll ignore it."


	13. Chapter 13

The gang ended up getting a two-month suspension. The Vice Principal wanted to place fines on them too, but he couldn't since they didn't really damage any school property. The group was forced to leave school grounds and since they didn't want to face the wrath of their parents, they went to the park.

There, Virgil told them about the plan to go back in time to stop the girls from discovering the basement. Even though they ran the risk of being discovered by NASA or whoever was after them, they all agreed to do it. Since today would mark the 48-hour deadline the machine had, they decided to try sneaking into the basement to complete the mission.

"Hopefully, they haven't dismantled the machine," Jay muttered, biting down on her lip.

With that comment, the gang hurried to get back to school. Getting on the property was easy. Virgil was grateful they didn't have to worry about getting out because that would complicate this a million times over. No one was guarding the door to go downstairs, but it was still locked.

Virgil's heart sank when Charlie suddenly pulled out a spare key and opened the door. "I always keep the spare with me."

Everyone hurried inside and quickly shut the door, making sure it was locked for privacy.

"All right, I'm going in." Virgil made a direct bee-line to the box that held the costumes. "Hmm. At least they had the courtesy of folding them up."

"You're only going back to lock the door right?" Zeke asked.

"Yeah. If we lock the door, Riley never opens it and we don't have to worry about her discovering the machine," Virgil answered as he dressed up.

"Simple enough," Zeke shrugged.

…

True to his word, the first thing Virgil did when he made it through was lock the door. He was turning to jump back again when he paused. Locking the door may have delayed the discovery of the machine, but Riley was still going to ask her questions. Maybe he could get it out of the way now…

He took the snowsuit off and left the basement to look for the reporter. The blonde wasn't in a particular hurry as he roamed the empty halls of the high school. Everyone had classes and she was out delivering warning notes so it would be easy to spot her. After walking around for a moment, Virgil picked up the pace. The longer it took to find her, the greater the chance that Riley would go back down to the basement. Finally he found her and approached her casually just as she was turning around from sticking a note on an empty classroom. "Are you doing some kind of surveys with the school clubs?"

She frowned at him. "Uh, how did you know?"

Virgil pointed to the note she left on the door. "I saw a note while I was walking around."

"Okay. Is there a specific reason why you're interested?" Riley asked, counting the number of notes left.

"I'm the head of a club and I was wondering if I could answer any questions right now."

She looked up at him with a little bit more attention. "Which club are you in?"

"The Back to the Future Fan Club," Virgil answered, feeling a little embarrassed of the name.

Riley's eyebrows shot up in amusement. "Fan Club eh?"

"It is a good movie."

"That's true," Riley agreed with a wry smile. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say no. I can't conduct the survey because I have to pass out the rest of these notes and I still haven't written it up yet."

"Okay. I'm going to warn you not to include the club in the paper because we won't be able to answer your questions by the time you type them up."

"Did you hit a rough patch or something?"

"Something like that," Virgil said with a careless shrug of his shoulders. "Point being, we don't have any meeting scheduled because none of the members are really available."

"Huh. Okay." Riley said. "You won't mind being left out of the newspaper then?"

Gosh no, Virgil thought to himself. That's the whole purpose of the mission anyway. "Not really."

"Well all right. Thanks for the heads-up."

"No problem," Virgil turned around walked off while throwing a quick 'Good luck' over his shoulder. As soon as he went around the corner, he gave a small sigh of relief: it was over. He could go back and tell the others that they could take it as easily as before.

"Virgil?"

He barely heard his name as he broke out of his train of thought.

"What the hell were you doing?" Zeke snapped at him.

"What are you doing here?" Virgil answered his question with a question, annoying the tall teen greatly.

"You were taking too long so I jumped through to check what was going on."

"Only you?"

Zeke glared at him sarcastically. "Noo."

"Aside from that much needed dose of sarcasm," Virgil started as he walked past Zeke to head to the basement, "I'm proud to report that Riley will leave us alone so there is absolutely no risk of being caught."

"Huh," Zeke grunted as he turned to follow Virgil. The bell to excuse the students rang, so the halls were quickly piled with kids anxious to move on to their next class. "I guess your insensitivity really did pay off."

"Insensitivity?"

"Oh, I meant to say stupidity," Zeke said a little jokingly.

Virgil rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say something when a girl rushed up to a friend near the boys and tugged her arm urgently. "Come on!"

"What's going on?" the friend asked.

"The school guards caught one of the Minutemen!"

Virgil and Zeke shared a quick look before running after the girls and following them to the cafeteria. A huge crowd of people were gathered around, protesting angrily about something. Just above the shouts, they heard a familiar voice. "Let me go!"

Zeke being the tallest managed saw the school guard push past the crowd of people with a firm grip on Jay. Luckily her hood and goggles were still on so no one would be able to connect the Minute Gang with Virgil and the others.

"Is it really a Minutegirl?" Virgil was careful not to say anything too revealing in the public space.

"Yeah." Zeke began to push past the crowd to get to Jay and the guard. She was struggling to run off, but she couldn't shake the stern-looking guard off.

"Let go of my arm!" she yelled angrily, pulling on her arm as hard as she could. He paused in his steps to use his strength to work against hers, allowing Jay to take the opportunity to use all of her weight to jerk back and yank her arm free. Laughing a little in triumph, she backed up only to bump into a student from the crowd, giving the guard a chance to reach out and grab her arm again. Before he could, Zeke blocked his arm and got a hold of her, pulling her further into the crowd to escape him.

"What are you doing here?!" he yelled angrily above the crowd while he led her out. The cheering and shouting of the crowd masked his tone so Jay didn't take any notice that he was upset.

"I was worried okay? I jumped back to help you guys."

As frustrated as the tall teen was, he didn't say anything else. The two got out of the crowd and met up with Virgil on the outskirts.

"All right, come on. We've got to go," Virgil urged. The trio ran off, leaving a few of the viewing students cheering in support.

Just as they reached the corner, a girl ran into Jay, knocking her to the ground. There was an explosion of blue-purple light that made everyone shield their eyes. The only two people who didn't notice it were Jay and the girl. She was grabbing her forehead, cursing at the pain she was in and she stumbled to her feet. For a second, Zeke thought that Jay was the one doing the swearing until he saw that she wasn't talking when he bent down to help her up. He heard two horrified gasps before he could fully process what was happening.

"Oh CRAPBALL," Virgil said, bringing his hands up to his head.

Zeke was completely confused because Jay was suddenly standing in front of him in her civilian clothes. When he saw Jeanette staring at him and Virgil with wide horrified eyes, it finally hit him like a bag of bricks.

Jay had run into herself.

"What's going on?" Present Jay groaned, oblivious to the situation. She rubbed her forehead one final time before setting her eyes at the unknown assailant. She stumbled back with a terrified yelp when she recognized herself standing in front of her and Zeke.

"Oh cra—Did I just…Did we just…" Past Jay motioned between her two persons frantically.

"What were you DOING?" Virgil asked her.

"We heard that someone from the Minute Gang was caught, so we were on our way to check it out," she gestured between herself and Past Jeanette.

With two Jays in his presence and the situation crashing onto his logic like a tsunami, Zeke was beginning to feel overwhelmed. He looked at Virgil. "We need to go. NOW."


	14. Chapter 14

"WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO?!" Charlie immediately attacked the three friends when they landed on the mattresses. "The signals were fine one second and the next, they're going haywire! And I don't think I need to tell you that they weren't bouncing around in a good way, do I?!"

Jay looked hesitatingly between Zeke and Virgil; she didn't know what to say.

"We had a little run in with the past," Virgil told Charlie vaguely.

"You WHAT?!" Charlie threw his hands up in the air. "Do you know what this 'run in' did?! There's a hole in the space-time continuum that I doubt I can fix, we can't time travel anymore because of it!"

Jay's guilt was eating away at her and it sucked out all of her energy, leaving her feeling nauseous and dizzy. She stumbled to the side concrete steps and laid a hand out for support. What did she do? Why was she so stupid?

"Goodness knows what's going to come as a result of what happened back there, but I do know this: as soon as I fix the damage—IF I can fix the damage—I'm tearing this infernal machine apart with my bare hands."

No one argued. They simply stared at Charlie helplessly while Jay stared wearily at a spot on the floor.

…

Charlie spent the entire next week in front of a computer screen, running the numbers of the new incident again and again in order to find a solution to the problem that was created. The others hadn't been able to get a glimpse of him because he was either in the basement or at his house. Everyone felt terrible, but the one who took the hit the hardest was Jay. Her anxiety levels blew through the roof and like Charlie, she couldn't stay still for more than three seconds. Zeke sensed something was wrong and he tried to comfort her, taking her out on strolls to clear her mind, getting her comfort food (because women went through these types of phases, he discovered through his research on how to make girls feel better).

On Friday, she couldn't handle the pressure anymore and she broke. She cried, hugging her knees tightly while Zeke had his arm around her shoulders. He hated how things turned out on that last mission and he hated how it affected Jay. The day after, he met up with Virgil and the two planned a spontaneous movie marathon to ease down the tension with everyone.

"I'll call Charlie and tell him I'm going over to do something important, I don't know," Virgil said. "But we've all got to take a deep breath and relax."

Thus, Virgil went to the candy aisle of a random store he walked into later on in the day to buy a few treats. He stared at all of the candy, deciding which ones would be suitable to take when his cellphone interrupted his concentration.

He answered it. "Yeah."

"Virgil? Are you sure it's okay for me to go to the marathon tonight?" Jay asked in a cracked voice.

"Of course, what makes you think you can't go?" Virgil frowned in genuine concern. She really was taking this hard.

"You saw how Charlie reacted to what happened," she said. "He probably hates me."

"He doesn't know it was you specifically, it doesn't even matter that you're the one that—" Virgil stopped himself. He was being inadvertently insensitive. "Look, he's been taking his frustration out on everyone and we all just need to take it easy. Go to the marathon tonight or I'll have Zeke kidnap you and bring you to Charlie's place tied in a bundle of ropes, not that he'd need it or anything like that."

She chuckled and sniffed.

"Okay?" Virgil asked.

"Okay. Thanks dude."

"See ya later tonight." He ended the call and was about to put the phone away when it rang again.

"Geez, who could it b—" he stopped when he saw the caller ID and he answered it with a wide smile. "Stephanie?"

"Um, Virgil?" She could barely say his name without choking towards the end of it. Hearing her like this wiped the smile away faster than anything else.

"Stephanie what happened? Are you hurt?" he immediately asked.

"No. Um he…" She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence so she tried again. "He, uh…"

"Hang on, I'll be right there." Virgil hung up and rushed out, forgetting about the candy.

…

Jay knocked on the door softly and stepped back, biting her lip and hugging her bag of treats tightly. Charlie opened the door, rubbing his eye and yawning.

"Hi," Jay said as bravely as she could.

"Hi." He didn't sound angry or upset, just tired. "Come in."

Jay went to the living room and to her relief, saw that Jeanette was already there.

"Hi bluejay," she chirped, waving excitedly at her.

Jay's nervous smile widened into her genuine Vampire Smile as she set her pot luck item down on the coffee table. "Are we the only ones here so far?"

"Yup," Jeanette bobbed her head. "We decided that we're going to watch…."

She hopped up, skipped to her bag, rummaged through it quickly, and pulled out a trilogy collection set. "Indiana Jones!"

"Nice."

"I'll be back up, I've got to go check something really fast," Charlie told them as he walked down the hall and into the basement where his room was at. That statement brought Jay's guilt back and her smile started to fade when all of a sudden, she and Jeanette heard the roar of an engine outside of Charlie's house. It made Jay's energetic levels spike as her guilt was replaced with excitement.

"Can you guys let Zeke in?!" Charlie called from downstairs.

"Sure thing parakeet!" Jeanette replied.

Jay went to the door and opened it just as Zeke was about to knock.

"Hey," she greeted him with her wide smile.

Seeing that she was quite cheerful the tall teen returned the smile, making her heart jump in her chest. "Hey."

Jay shut the door after him and looked at him as he searched his ratty backpack for something. "I got you these."

She smiled up at him in gratitude when she realized that it was a small package of fresh blackberries, her favorite fruit. "Just for me?"

He grinned wryly at her. "Well would you mind sharing with me?"

She bit her lip and brought her arms behind her back. "Probably not."

The basement door creaked open, causing Jay to take a step back from the tall teen, and Charlie appeared from the stairs.

"So is Virgil going to come later on or not?" he asked Zeke.

"Let's call him," Jay suggested, leading the boys back into the living room as she pulled out her phone and dialed Virgil. Putting the call on speaker mode, everyone crowded around the phone and waited a total of three rings before Virgil answered.

"Yeah?"

"You're on speaker, where are you?" Jay said.

"Are you at Charlie's?" he asked her a question of his own, to which Zeke muttered, "He has to stop doing that."

"Yeah, we're all here right now. Are you okay?" Jay said.

Virgil sighed. "It's Stephanie. She caught Derek kissing Jocelyn Lee."

"Oh no!" Jeanette gasped, bringing her hands up to her mouth.

"Did she break up with him already?" Jay asked.

"I don't know, she said she was going to talk to him when I was at her place."

"What about you, are you okay?" Charlie asked him.

"You sound terrible dude," Zeke added.

"Uh, I feel fine actually," Virgil said unconvincingly. "But Steph, she's…She's really taking this tough."

"Oh!" Jeanette exclaimed softly, tugging on Jay's arm. "We should go cheer her up!"

"What?"

"Yeah! Me and you could have a movie night with her while the boys have their own!" Jeanette explained.

"Why would you want to do that?" Zeke questioned her. "She's a popular. There's no doubt she's probably already got some of the other cheerleaders there lending her moral support."

"What do you think Virg?" Jay asked the phone.

"Honestly, I don't know. But if you guys want to try, I'll text you her address."

Jay and Jeanette shared a look before Jay said, "We'll do it."


	15. Chapter 15

Stephanie's mom left after she tried to coax her into eating dinner. But she didn't want to eat; she didn't want to do anything. The only thing she wanted was time to cope. Of course she saw the signs; she knew something was up with Derek and Jocelyn. She just wished she'd been brave enough to do something before to save her all this hurt. Her cellphone rang for the millionth time, but without looking at the caller ID she knew it was Derek. Having had enough, Stephanie turned her phone off and tossed it to the side. She was surprised to hear the doorbell ring but even more so when her mom stuck her head in her room. "Steph, two friends are here to see you."

Frowning slightly in confusion, Stephanie followed her mom down to the front door. She was more than a little shocked when she saw Jay Quelin and Jeanette Pachelewski standing in her doorway with a big cloth bag.

"Um…Jeanette? Jay? What are…?" she didn't want to finish the question because she didn't want to sound rude. However, she didn't need to worry because Jeanette spoke up almost as soon as Steph stopped.

"We're here to cheer you up!"

"Uhh—"

"We heard about what happened," Jay spoke up quickly. "Virgil told us because it's affecting him as much as it is you. We bring you this gift because any friend of Virgil's is a friend of ours too."

She nodded to Jeanette, who held up the cloth bag to Steph. Tentatively, the pretty blonde took it from her and looked inside. The first thing that caught Stephanie's eye was a copy of Grease and already she began to feel a little better. A small smile graced her lips as she pulled it out to look at it.

"We hope you love John Travolta," Jay said with a slight chuckle in her breath.

The smile faded from Stephanie's face as she looked at the two girls with an expression of fake seriousness. "Are you kidding? I love him as Danny Zuko."

"I know right?" Jeanette exclaimed.

"Aside from that, we also brought most of the good treats from the marathon we were going to have with the boys," Jay jerked her head towards the bag. "Mainly the desserts."

Stephanie smiled as she glanced in the bag to confirm what Jay had said. "Thanks."

"Yup," Jeanette chirped happily.

Jay clapped her hands in finality. "Well that's about it. I hope you feel be—"

"Hang on," Stephanie held a hand up. "You honestly don't think I'll be able to finish all these treats off by myself, do you?"

Understanding the request, Jay smiled widely at her and Jeanette clapped her hands excitedly.

…

The boys had decided to host their movie marathon at Virgil's place since he wasn't really up to be anywhere near Derek. When school rolled around again on Monday, Virgil couldn't stop thinking about how Stephanie was doing. What was this day going to bring for her?

When it was time for lunch he was more than surprised to see Stephanie sitting at his table with his friends, talking and laughing with Jay while Zeke and Charlie talked amongst themselves. She acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. Regardless, he was glad to see she was doing better than when he last saw her.

"So, are you enjoying the view from our table?" he asked her playfully as he took a seat next to her.

She greeted him with that sweet smile that made him feel like he ran a marathon. "It's actually a really good view."

"That's nice. I guess you don't mind the fact that your friends from your usual table is looking at you like you came from another planet?"

Stephanie glanced back at her old table, making the populars jolt and quickly look away in embarrassment. She met Virgil's gaze again. "No. They know that I need some time to myself because of what happened with Derek."

"So you don't care about your reputation?" Zeke asked her with a hint of cynicism in his voice.

She smiled a little bitterly at him. "My reputation is the least of my concerns at the moment."

"Well in that case, you're welcome to dine with us whenever you please madam," Virgil said playfully, bowing his upper body slightly.

Giggling, Stephanie tipped her head at him. "Thank you, kind sir."

Jeanette hopped up to the table. "Hi Stephanie!"

"Hi, how are you?"

"I'm pretty excited, I mean can you believe that the dance is THIS Friday?"

Charlie jolted, causing Zeke and Virgil to smile, and he quickly spoke up. "Yeah, it's a shame that I'm going to be REALLY busy that day."

"Oh I really doubt that," Zeke joked around. "I'm sure you can spare a few minutes to—"

"No I can't," Charlie interrupted. "I've been a busy, busy bee lately. You know how the life of a scientist is."

While the two boys went back and forth, Stephanie nudged Virgil's arm. "We should go to the dance together. It would be fun."

The sudden request took him completely by surprise. "Like TOGETHER together? You wouldn't mind?"

"Why would I?" Stephanie seemed genuinely confused by the concept.

Virgil let out a disbelieving chuckle and he couldn't seem to control his ear-to-ear smile. "Well, all right then."

…

Virgil hardly paid attention to his teacher in Public Speaking class. He kept zoning out and thinking how lucky he was to have finally had a date with Steph. Was it even a date? It was just going to be him and her so it had to be a date right? Mm. Regardless, Virgil was going to spend a night with her at a social event and that was all he could ask for. He smiled to himself for the millionth time.

"Are your cheek muscles hurting yet?" Zeke asked him as he kept his eyes focused on his pocket knife. With a shock, Virg realized that the teacher turned them loose until the bell rang.

He blinked rapidly and looked at his dark haired friend. "What?"

"Are your cheek muscles hurting yet?" Zeke repeated slowly, as if he were speaking to a child.

Since there was no need to get defensive about his feelings on Stephanie, Virgil smirked at the tall teen. "Maybe as much as yours when you think of Jay."

"Mm. Touché," he grinned with a slight shake of his head, a gesture that said, 'Unbelievable.'

"Hey are you going to be going to the dance this Friday?" Virgil suddenly asked.

Zeke looked at him with an expression of disbelief. "Are you kidding? It's a school dance, dude."

"Yeah and? You've got something you can ask, right?"

Zeke shrugged. "True but I'd rather spend time with her someplace else."

"As long as you're spending time with her I say it doesn't matter whether you do it at a school dance or not."

Zeke remained quiet.

"Can you just…go to the school dance with me and Steph? I'm confused right now because I don't know if it's a date or not and if you guys go, it could be some kind of group thing instead of a thing with me and her," Virgil said.

"What, after all this time you DON'T want to have an official date with her?"

"No I do, it's just that she barely broke up with her boyfriend and I don't know what kind of etiquettes exists for these situations," Virgil said. "I don't want to do something stupid and mess it up. So can you and Jay come along?"

Zeke made a face. "I don't know. It is a high school dance we're talking about here Virg."

"But it's your guys' senior year. She hasn't been to a dance since she moved here; I think if you take her she'll be really happy. Please? If not for me, at least for her? You know she's into you just as much as you are to you, so you've got nothing to lose if you tell her."

Zeke was grinning in a way that Virgil would consider 'shy' or 'happy that the girl he liked liked him back'. He flipped his pocket knife a few times before catching it and shaking his head with a light chuckle. He looked at Virgil. "You know I hate it when you do that."

"What?"

"Change my mind with one of your speeches."


	16. Chapter 16

Before Jay went to her last class she always made a quick stop at her locker to get her textbook. This made it so she wouldn't need to lug it around everywhere. She slammed her locker door shut and jumped when she saw Zeke leaning on the locker next to hers. "Hey stranger."

She quickly composed herself and greeted him with the wide goofy smile she couldn't control when he was around. "Hi stranger. To what do I owe this visit?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

"IIIII might give you an answer depending on the question," she answered carefully so she wouldn't commit herself to something she didn't want to do later on.

He chuckled in amusement. "I'm pretty sure you'll most definitely give me an answer."

"Oh really wise guy? What is thy inquisition?"

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

The question made Jay's energetic emotions explode like a crate full of fireworks inside of her chest, causing her already-too-big smile to widen even more. She let out a surprised laugh. "Are you—Are you serious?"

"I never joke around when it comes to you," he said with a smile of his own. The statement made her cheeks flush and she looked down briefly. "So what do you say?"

"Uh—Yes—Yeah! I'll be more than happy to go with you."

"Good," Zeke bobbed his head. "Oh and just as a fair warning, we'll be going with Virgil and Steph. Is that fine?"

"Yeah sure, I don't care," Jay shrugged in a carefree fashion. "Even better—Oh I mean—Not that I don't want to—If you and I went toge—"

His laugh made her stop her stuttering and suddenly, he was hunched a little closer over her. "You're so adorable when you're embarrassed."

"Did you actually just say the word ADORABLE?" Jay asked as her cheeks burned even hotter. "I didn't know teenage guys even had those words in their vocabulary."

"Well it's the perfect word I can use to describe you." He pushed himself off the locker and began to walk away. "I'll text you later," he called over his shoulder.

"You better!" Jay threatened playfully, walking off to her English class in the opposite direction.

…

[Jay] Hey Steph, it's J. Not sure if Virg has told u yet, but we're going to the dance as a group.

[Stephanie] Yeah, he told me. C: I'm really happy 4 u!

[Jay] U too. I was actually wondering if u could help me with something?

[Stephanie] Sure

[Jay] Can u help me get ready 4 the dance? I've never been to one before

[Stephanie] Yeah! No problem!

[Stephanie] Do u have a dress?

[Jay] No…DX

[Stephanie] It's ok. I'll lend u one of mine.

[Jay] Thank u!

[Stephanie] Come over to my house 5 on Friday so we can get ready tgether k?

[Jay] All right, I'll b there

…

Virgil thought he felt the ground shake underneath him as he, Steph, Zeke and Jay walked across the football field to the dance. Maybe he was just really nervous.

"Oh I'm so excited!" Stephanie clapped her hands Jeanette-style. "And you know, I'm glad we're going together guys."

Virgil gave her a genuine smile as he held out his elbow for her to take. "So am I."

The inside of the gym was colorful and alive with music and laughter. Girls on the dance floor twirled in their long, era appropriate skirts. Tables along the sidelines held various desserts and refreshments. The group of four was taking in the dance when Zeke snagged Virgil's arm and pulled him out of Stephanie's hearing range. "Keep an eye out."

"What are you-?"

Zeke jerked his head towards the stage and Virgil followed his gaze, his eyes settling on Derek and three other football players. By the look on Derek's face, it was obvious he didn't approve of Stephanie hanging out with the three outcasts, much less coming to the dance with one of them.

"Obviously, he's not over his ex and it wouldn't be smart to stay and provoke a fruckus," Zeke said in a low tone.

Virgil frowned at him. "A what?"

"A fruckus. It's a fight," the tall teen answered irritably.

Virgil glanced back at Derek and the others. "Don't worry," he reassured his friend. "I'll stay on guard."

With a final nod, Zeke went off with Jay while Steph and Virg wandered towards the refreshment tables.

"Did you tell him?" Jay asked Zeke as they walked away from the blonde pair.

"Yeah, but if that quarterback starts something, I'm kicking his—"

"All right!" Jay interrupted. "That's good to know."

This earned her her favorite lopsided green from the tall teen.

…

Finally, Vice Principal Tolkan announced the crowning of the King and Queen. After an awkward Elvish impersonation, the student body clapped when the Vice Principal announced Stephanie as the Queen. To their shock, the King was none other than outcast Virgil Fox! After passing their initial shock, they clapped for the Royalty as they were crowned and they came down the stage.

"Oh congratulations you two!" Jay said as she gave Steph a hug.

"Thank you!"

Zeke grinned at Virgil. "Who knew right?"

"Seriously," Virgil said as he let out a puff of air, tugging at the collar of his button up shirt. A slow song began to play and Virgil extended a hand out to Steph.

"Care to have a dance with me?"

Zeke and Jay shared a look and they began to retreat.

"Have fun, Majesties!" Jay called over her shoulder. Stephanie took Virgil's hand and he led her out to the dance floor, where they swayed to the slow beat of the song.

"I can't believe we won!" Stephanie exclaimed quietly so she wouldn't interrupt the flow of the music.

"I can believe that YOU won, especially since I went back in time to stuff the ballot," Virgil joked. "The only thing I CAN'T believe is that I actually won King. Who would ever vote for me?"

Stephanie gave him a comforting smile. "I would." And after a pause she said, "This is kind of weird."

Virgil faltered in the sway of the music. "O-Oh—"

"It's weird in a good way," Stephanie giggled.

Virgil couldn't stop the smile that grew on his face. "Honestly? I was thinking the same thing."

Then the most miraculous thing happened. Stephanie leaned forward slowly, closing her eyes. She was so close, Virgil told himself it would be rude NOT to close the space in between them. So he did.


	17. Chapter 17

For the millionth time, Jay flattened out the dress Stephanie let her borrow with a sweep of her hands. Then she scanned the gym slowly. "School dances are so weird."

"Do you want to leave?" Zeke asked.

She met his gaze with a coy grin. "You'd do that for me?"

"I'd do anything for you without a moment's hesitation."

She giggled, bringing a hand up to check and see if her cheek was actually as hot as it felt. Waving the same hand dismissively, she said, "Its fine. I meant to say that it's weird in a good way."

Zeke frowned slightly but smiled. "How so?"

"Well," Jay looked out to Steph and Virg and smiled. "It's nice coming along with friends. I don't know why I never did this before. It's so relieving, in a way."

"I understand," Zeke said. "It's relieving in the way that you finally have friends that make you feel like your life is worth living."

"Yeah…" Jay said slowly as she studied Zeke's steel blue eyes. "That's exactly it."

She was experiencing something she never thought she'd experience in a lifetime. By the way both of them were getting closer to each other's faces, it seemed that she was going to get her first kiss. The fact that it was with a boy she liked made her feel like her heart was made of cotton candy fluff. Everything around her was just fluff at this point. Her eyes randomly settled on his black leather jacket and she smiled.

"You know, I feel like we kind of match now." She held out her arms to study the sleeves of the leather jacket Stephanie let her borrow. "We're like that annoying couple that dresses alike."

"Oh God no," Zeke said, pulling away slightly. "If we ever became like that, I think I'd shoot myself."

Jay brought a hand underneath her chin. "Oh so, guys DON'T like it when they have to wear the same outfit as their girls?"

"Sorry, but you're the one that looks good in the dress not me."

"Oh I'm not so sure," Jay lifted his arms up from his body and scanned him up and down. "I'm pretty sure you'd look pretty cute either way."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Jay laughed and looked out to the slow swaying couples. She wasn't much of a dancer, but she really wanted to do something. "Do you want to go outside?"

Zeke flashed her a grin. "I thought you'd never ask."

…

It wasn't cold outside, but Jay wouldn't have been able to tell either way because of the jacket Stephanie lent her. She felt like a regular teenage girl as she walked around in dress and low rise high heels. She felt beautiful and confident and it was more than she could have dreamed to ask on a night such as this one. She and Zeke strolled around the football field once and decided to go back inside when she realized that she was craving something sweet. As they climbed the stairs to get into the gym, Jay punched the tall teen playfully in the shoulder.

"Hey, I just realized that I'm as tall as your shoulders. Whoa!" She flailed her arms around as she stumbled around in her shoes.

"Whoa, hey now!" Zeke caught her before she tripped.

"That's the second time you've saved me the embarrassment of falling on my rump," she said as she steadied herself with his help.

"You ARE a klutz," Zeke opened the door for her.

She pretend scoffed. "No I am not. I am highly offended." She raised her chin and stomped past him in an exaggerated fashion. She wasn't watching where she was going so she wobbled when she accidentally stepped on the doorframe on the floor. Zeke grabbed her arm and kept her from falling over. His blue eyes were shining humorously when she looked up into them.

"See? Klutz."

"Fine, I admit it," she let out a heavy sigh. "But its only 'cause I'm wearing heels."

He looked down at her legs which made her feel a rush of adrenaline.

"They aren't even that high."

"Do YOU want to walk in them?"

Zeke hissed mockingly. "I don't think they're my size."

Snickering, Jay led him in the gym towards the refreshment tables. As he was grabbing two drinks, she tried to tippy toe up to his ear. "Hey I'll be right back. I need to use the restroom."

He didn't say anything, but he nodded to let her know he heard. Halfway across the gym floor, Jay froze in her tracks when she saw Derek and another football player drag Virgil out of the gym followed by a pleading Stephanie.

"Oh no." Jay turned and ran back to the dark haired teen. "Zeke!"

She caught up to him and yanked on his arm to make him face her. When he saw her expression he frowned worriedly. "Are you okay?"

…

"Derek stop!" Stephanie screamed above the cheering spectators.

Another blow made Virgil's head jerk to the side. This one, like the rest, stung painfully and slowly turned his face numb. But he didn't care. All he cared about what Stephanie's safety. Blindly, he stumbled in the direction of her screaming only to be violently shoved against the lockers again.

"Get her out of here Derek!" Virg shouted. He didn't want her to see this and he sure as hell didn't want the others to see her reaction to watching it.

The quarterback ignored him and punched him in the stomach, making him double over.

"DEREK!" Stephanie screamed, her voice slightly laced with anger. She tried to push past Derek's football jocks, but they kept her at bay as she watched two childhood friends go off in a high school fight.

"I wasn't expecting you to stoop so low, dork," Derek hissed. "We were friends! How could you steal my girl?"

Virgil wasn't used to being beaten and damn, it was agonizing. He was silently begging for someone in the crowd to step in to save him, but no one did even as the next punch came. The blonde was on his knees, clutching his stomach with one hand. It hurt, but it wasn't going to stop. And that's when Virgil saw Zeke's sneakers step in between him and Derek. He stopped Derek's oncoming blow and countered it with one of his own. The raw power of it sent the quarterback staggering back.

"Back the hell off," Zeke growled his threat, towering over Derek. On the sidelines, Jay stomped down on one of the football player's foot with her heel, making him howl out a curse and hop around on one foot as he tried to rub his other. That left only one football player for the girls to deal with, which kind of made Virgil feel bad for the guy because he thought that facing off two angry females on your own must have sucked big time. The third jock tried to sneak up behind Zeke.

"Watch out," Virgil warned him weakly.

The tall teen turned, bringing out his elbow and hitting the guy in the face. Those few seconds were all that Derek needed to try to tackle Zeke from behind and he stumbled into the lockers, luckily giving Virg a few seconds to roll out of the way. The blonde made the effort to get to his feet and tackle the second guy, but the effect was exactly like Derek and Zeke's; the guy stumbled back instead of actually falling over.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" the crowd chanted.

Zeke managed to turn the tables of surprise. He grabbed Derek's collar and was just about to punch him in the face when Charlie and Jeanette pushed through the crowd.

"Zeke!" Charlie exclaimed when he saw what he was doing.

"Charlie? What are you doing here?" he questioned the short genius while keeping a strong grip on Derek's shirt. An authorative voice interrupted Charlie's reply.

"STOP!"

The cheering crowd became quiet as a black man in a suit stepped towards the circle of action, holding up a badge. "FBI."

Another man broke into the circle. "CIA."

A third one came too, flashing an unimpressive business card. "Federal Unit of Weights and Meausre."

There was an awkward silence as people tried to figure out what that was.

"In the future, I suggest that you go first," Virgil said, straightening his suit out and dusting his shoulders off.

"What is the meaning of this?" Vice Principal Tolkan asked as soon as he broke into the circle.

The FBI agent turned to him. "Your students—"

"Created a black hole," Charlie interrupted, turning to his friends. "Guys, we've created a black hole."

Zeke frowned. "What? That's not—"

A clap of thunder called everyone's attention and they rushed out only to see a blackish hole forming in the ground.

"Oh no," Jay muttered as the guilt came back and form a tight knot in her stomach.

"Back up!" Charlie yelled.

"Everybody get back!" the FBI agent told the students, holding up his hands to signal them away from the hole.


	18. Chapter 18

Down in the basement, Charlie and the gang filled the adults in on how the machine worked as Stephanie stood a little further back, trying to comprehend what was happening. To everyone's disbelief, Charlie even managed to debrief the team on how to destroy the black hole.

"If we jump in and reverse the polarity with the remote pack, we might have a shot."

"Wait, remote pack?" Zeke asked.

"This one," Charlie handed him a black backpack. Zeke opened it and found their old, failure of a portable time machine inside. "I modified it so it should be able to work on the other side."

"Hold on," Vice Principal Tolkan spoke up. "You can't seriously be thinking about sending these students in there."

"They're the only ones that know how the equipment works and the only team that has experience jumping through the vortex. We don't have time to send anybody else," the FBI man said.

The Vice Principal let that information sink in and he placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder. "Godspeed," he said before making a break for the door.

Briefly giving the Vice Principal a confused look, Virgil raised a hand. "I'll go alone."

"Are you kidding?" Charlie said. "If anyone should go alone it should be me, I invented the thing!"

"And I helped you."

"You'll both go," the FBI agent said as Charlie opened his mouth to respond.

"I'll need to go too sir." Zeke held up a familiar tool. "They'll need my grappling hook."

…

The halls were lined with cheering students when the Minute Gang came back up. At first they were hesitant, but they soon found themselves smiling proudly, waving hello at the cheering spectators and their cameras. All six friends walked until they reached the crime scene tape that sectioned off the black hole and they faced each other sadly, unsure of what the future would bring. Jeanette was the first to start the goodbyes. She hopped up to Charlie. "Come back safely, okay redbird?"

And to his surprise, she leaned forward and kissed him. She pulled away, leaving the 14-year-old genius pretty stupefied.

Jay came next and she was already teared up. "Oh this is my fault. I should be doing this instead of you guys."

"Hey," Virgil said firmly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Everyone makes mistakes. And besides, we're all in this together. It doesn't matter who made the mess, we're all helping to clean it up in the end."

Sniffing, Jay wiped away the tears and gave him a weary smile. "Thanks Virgil."

She gave him a hug, then Charlie, and when she moved on to Zeke, her eyes teared up all over again. She gave him the longest hug and when she pulled away, she stared at him directly in his entrancing eyes. "If this doesn't work, I want you to know that…I really liked you."

Zeke's mouth twitched up into a grin. "Me too."

"Be safe stranger," she said softly. Zeke gave her a smile that Virgil never saw on him before. It was soft and gentle, but at the same time a little sad. He was expecting a kiss of some sort, either on the lips or on the cheek, but that didn't happen. She backed away after waving a quick goodbye to Zeke and she went over to Jeanette, who gave her a comforting hug. Zeke picked Charlie up.

"We'll see you at the edge Virg," he said as he carried the short teen past the crime scene tape. He knew that Stephanie was the last one to say goodbye and he felt grateful that Zeke decided to give them the time they needed to say what they needed to say. Steph stared at Virgil as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"So…you were the one who saved me from falling off the pyramid?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. In the future you broke it and…I didn't want that to happen."

Stephanie smiled and stepped forward to give him a hug. "Thank you."

She gave him a gentle squeeze and a kiss on the cheek before pulling away. "Come back safe."

"I promise," Virgil smiled. He met up with Zeke and Charlie at the edge, pulling his goggles over his eyes.

"Minutemen! Minutemen! Minutemen!" everyone cheered.

"Hey Virgil, at least you got these few seconds of fame before we go in there to mess it up," Zeke said.

"Yeah thanks," Virgil replied sarcastically.

"Let's cross our fingers and hope we don't get ripped to shreds," Charlie said.

"What?!" Virgil exclaimed. But it was too late.

…

The girls couldn't just stand around and wait. They went down to the basement and went through when Jay and Jeanette explained that they were a part of the Minute Gang as well. Inside, the head FBI agent was at the keyboard with a thin scientist.

"How are they?" Jay asked him.

"Do you know?" Jeanette added.

The scientist was typing away at the keyboard; he didn't even spare a glance at them. "We just got their reserve signal, they should be fine."

"What are you doing now?" Jay asked, trying hard to understand what the random letters and numbers on the computer meant.

"Hopefully, he's making it so that the signals can be compatible," the FBI agent answered.

"Once I can get the signals to merge, I'll be able to convert it into a warped hole that will be able to bring them back when they jump through it," the scientist said.

This news brought on a wave of hope that made the girls let out relieved sighs, excited claps, and happy tears. Everything was going to be okay. A fat scientist pushed through the agents at the main door and came around to where the computer was at.

"Ed you wouldn't believe what the vending machines here have!" he said, one arm full of junk food while he held a Coca Cola with his free hand. The thin scientist stopped typing and he waved his hands at the fat one.

"No, no, there's a—!"

The fat one tripped on a wire and crashed into the computer, spilling his coke on the hard drive and creating a few sparks.

"Ooops," he muttered as he straightened himself out.

"What did you do?!" the thin scientist immediately went to work as the computer screen began to glitch.

The girls' stomachs whirled frantically and their breath got caught in their throats.

"Wh-What's going on?" Jay asked.

"Thanks to SOMEBODY over here," the man threw a cold glare at the fat scientist, who tried to keep busy with the junk in his arms. "It appears that…the signal has gone overdrive."

"What does that mean?" the FBI agent asked.

"I was able to stop the black hole," the man sat back in his seat and folded his arms, bringing one hand underneath his chin, "and I was able to start the hole for them to come back. But it's sped up. They have two minutes to catch it before it completely closes."


	19. Chapter 19

Dejected, Charlie and Zeke were walking back to the park. Virgil was at the football field of Summerton High School on the very first day of his freshman year, the day of The Incident. He had gone to try to prevent it from happening while his two friends went after him to try to convince him otherwise. But they couldn't force him to see the situation otherwise, so they left the choice up to him and decided to head back to the park where the remote pack was sending the reverse signal. Each boy was lost in their own world when Charlie's portable device beeped.

"What is it?" Zeke asked when he saw Charlie's shocked expression.

"The signal, its gone overdrive!" Charlie said as if that would serve as an explanation.

"Meaning?"

"We have two minutes to get to the park or we'll be stuck here for good!"

The weight of what he was saying sunk in after a few seconds. The two boys sprang into action, sprinting towards the park, but Charlie knew they weren't going to make it. His lungs felt like they were on fire and he stopped to catch his breath.

"Come on Charlie," Zeke urged. "We're almost there."

"No we're not!" Charlie yelled the horrible truth. "We aren't going to make it."

Zeke stared at him in shock not at the fact that Charlie actually yelled at him, but that they were going to spend the rest of their lives three years in the past. What were they going to do? How were they going to live? Just when all hope seemed lost, a familiar red rocket cart parked right in front of them and the two boys saw Virgil smirking at them from behind the wheel.

…

They were spit out of the time hole with a single rubber tire. Charlie sat up, expecting to see his ENTIRE rocket cart invention, but he was shocked to see the one wheel.

"Aagh! That's it, no more time travelling!" Zeke snapped.

Virgil sighed and let himself drop against the grass of the football field, relieved that the pressure was finally gone.

Zeke looked around. There was a gym class running around the track, a few students playing volleyball at one end of the field, and a group of students running up and down the bleachers. "Where are we?"

"Or more accurately WHEN are we?" Charlie corrected him, earning him a glare. Of course, that's what Zeke meant but it came out the wrong way. A sharp whistle blow made the three boys jolt.

"What are you three doing?" the PE teacher demanded. "I will NOT tolerate students SLACKING OFF in my class!"

"We aren't in your class," Zeke told him.

"Then get off my field," the teacher blew his whistle. "Go, go, go!"

The three boys hurried off the field, leaving the hot tempered coach to himself. To try to get a sense of WHEN they were, they headed to the library. Virgil grew excited when he saw Stephanie, but it wasn't until he saw Derek there with two of his football jocks that he felt a twinge of deja-vu. Charlie looked to the rack near the entrance that held all of the school newspapers and he picked one up.

"We're on the day we time travelled for the first time!" he exclaimed. He smiled widely and threw his hands up. "We made-!"

Zeke slapped his hand over his mouth. "We're in a LIBRARY Charlie."

"Right," the short genius said once Zeke took his hand off.

Derek was walking by to leave and he greeted Virgil with a jerk of his head. "Hey Virg. Why are these two dorks dressed up like you?"

"What was-?"

Charlie stopped Zeke from stepping towards the football quarterback and pummeling him into the ground. Virgil gave his two friends a confident glance before turning to look at his ex-best friend.

"Don't insult my friends Derek because they may be dorky, but they aren't two-timing, double-crossing, backstabbing, traitors like you."

Charlie gasped and Zeke merely stared at Virgil. Derek was appalled, but he quickly regained his composure. "You know, this is what made you a loser in the first place Virgil. You stick up for all the geeks like you're some sort of a hero or something."

"Compared to what you do, I'd say that isn't so bad," Virgil retorted. "Oh and before I forget, have fun with Jocelyn Lee."

Derek scoffed but the surprise was visible on his face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well you two are so good with lipstick, I figured you make a perfect match."

Derek glanced back at his girlfriend and saw that she was picking up her study materials. Now was not a good time to have this conversation.

"This isn't over," he told Virgil in a quiet, menacing tone before walking out of the library with his two goons.

"Virgil!" Charlie exclaimed quietly. "What was that?!"

"Seriously man," Zeke added with an approving grin.

Virgil shrugged. "Reliving The Incident made me see things differently." He saw Stephanie walking towards them. "Look, I'll talk to you guys later okay?"

While he left to talk to his crush, Jeanette came into view with a book in her arms. "Oh! What's new cockatoo?"

"Nothing much pumpkin." To everyone's extreme shock, he hugged her and kissed her right in the mouth! Zeke quickly pulled him away.

"Charlie you've never kissed her," he whispered to the short teen. "The scene in the hall hasn't happened yet."

Charlie's eyes widened and he looked at the stupefied Jeanette. Slowly, she turned to leave the library. "Um…"

"Aw, J-Jeanette! I'm so sorry, Jeane-!" Charlie tried to go after her, but Zeke placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a knowing smile.

"Hey, it's going to be okay."

"Oh, hi Jeanette."

The next person to walk into the library was none other than Jade Quelin. Zeke's chest-piece (Ugh…HEART) pumped faster and his breathing caught in his throat, yet he felt a pang of sadness when she didn't even look at him. She was treating him like a stranger which, at that point, he was. She walked right past Charlie and Zeke and headed up to the front desk to return a book. As the tall teen turned to go talk to her, he tried to decide what to say so she wouldn't freak out because he noticed that she was wearing a hoodie. She was in her "Sweater Days."

"Hey Jay," he greeted her.

She met his gaze with a shocked expression. "You know my name?"

"Yeah."

Her expression shifted into a suspicious one. "…What's your name?"

The tall teen grinned softly at her. "It's Zeke."

He felt strange introducing himself to her, but what was he going to do? "Hey do you have anything to do for lunch?"

She shook her head and looked away from his eyes. "Not really."

"You know Virgil right?" Zeke remembered that the two knew each other from a class they took their previous year.

She nodded.

"If you want, you could come sit with me, him and Charlie during lunch," he gestured to himself and the short teen that was off looking at something.

She looked at Charlie with a slight frown and met Zeke's gaze briefly before shrugging her shoulder. "I'll think about it."

With that, she walked past him and further into the library. Zeke stared after her and let his shoulders slump. Hopefully, she'd open up within a few weeks.

Charlie came up to the tall teen with an overly excited expression that made him a little uncomfortable. He held a book up. "Zeke, I found the next experiment. One word…"

Zeke held up a finger. "No. Don't do it Charlie."

"Teleportation!"

**-XY-**

**So that's it, it's finished! My greatest creation evarh! :] So just as a heads up, there will be a sequel. I'm working on it right now. (I wasn't planning on this, but meh. The characters grew on me.)**


	20. Prologue: Readjusting

The only two people in the AV Club room were Charlie and Jeannette, who was working on her chemistry homework. While he typed away at the computer, she would ask him a few questions about her assignment. He didn't mind helping her after all, it was for science.

She worked quietly through her textbook problems while he tried to figure out if his new formula would work. Yes, it did make him sad that his two best friends weren't onboard with his teleportation idea...but Charlie HAD to work to discover it. It would be a major breakthrough for the scientific world, making the 21st century a lot like what movies predicted it would be. With teleportation, hover cars, holograms...

Charlie thought about Back to the Future 2 and he chuckled to himself. HE would be the one to jumpstart THAT future. He and his friends did believe that the future would be like that, but unlike Virgil and Zeke, Charlie believed it would happen in THEIR lifetime.

And it would start with him.

His computer beeped and colorful lights flashed repetitively. He...He...

"I did it," he whispered in awe.

Jeannette looked up. "Did you say something, humming bird?"

"I discovered teleportation!" he backed away from the computer and grabbed two fistfuls of his hair. "I did it!"

Jeannette jumped up and clapped, squealing in excitement. She hugged a stunned Charlie and hopped around like an energetic child.

"What do we do now?" she asked once she calmed down.

"Now...we get a room."

"To do what?"

"To start building."

**-XYZ-**

**So I'm finally working on the sequel, as I said I would. It's been a while; I've been awfully busy but here we go! Go check it out and leave me comments if you'd like. ;) Ha, I wanted to make a "dirty joke" sequence here what with Charlie saying they needed to get a room, but they're both too innocent and dense to be able to follow through with it.**


End file.
